Best Starts by the Numbers in 2022 

This blog post was originally published on the Best Starts for Kids blog. This year, Best Starts for Kids entered into the first year of the second levy (Best Starts 2.0) and over the course of the year we centered on learning, growing and thriving.   In the first Best Starts levy we invested more…

King County Department of Community and Human Services Launches Data Dashboard Measuring Impact of Countywide Initiatives  

The Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) is excited to debut the new DCHS Dashboard that takes a detailed look at the programs and initiatives funded by the department, and the residents reached countywide. DCHS provides resources and services for the more than 2.3 million King County residents. The team at DCHS connects people…

Performance Measurement and Evaluation Unit Releases Brief on Impacts of COVID-19 on the Homeless Response System in 2020

DCHS’s Performance Measurement & Evaluation (PME) unit is launching the first in a series of quarterly data briefs highlighting housing and homelessness data trends. For the Q1 2021 release, the Data Review explores the impacts of COVID-19 on the King County Homeless Response System.  For several years, DCHS has used public data dashboards to provide information on the homeless response system and its performance towards making…

People looking at data dashboards

New Data Dashboard Explores Coordinated Entry for All

King County’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data dashboards have been a great resource for the community to learn about trends in homelessness and how well our system is performing. Now, DCHS’s Performance Measurement & Evaluation unit is excited to announce the addition of the new Coordinated Entry for All dashboard. With this new dashboard,…

People looking at data dashboards

Investment Matters: The Lasting Impacts of the Gates Foundation’s Data Driven Culture Initiative

By: Christina McHugh, Regional Housing and Homelessness Evaluation Manager Investments in data infrastructure, particularly in lean times, are not often prioritized. Yet, during the Great Recession, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested substantially in King County’s homelessness data analytics capacity, investments which have been sustained by the King County Council and Department of Community…

Desktop computer with data dashboard

New homeless response system dashboards advance our understanding of system performance and equity

By Christina McHugh and Pear Moraras While the annual Point-in-Time Count provides a snapshot of homelessness on a single night, we need a more consistent and reliable source of information to inform ongoing decision making. We now increasingly look to our Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data dashboards to understand trends in homelessness and how…