Atlas of Anchorage Community Indicators

Abstract

The Anchorage Community Indicators (ACI) project is designed to make information (extracted from data) accessible so that conversations about the health and well-being of Anchorage may become more completely informed. Policy makers, social commentators, service delivery systems, and scholars often stake out positions based on anecdotal evidence or hunches when, in many instances, solid, empirical evidence could be compiled to support or challenge these opinions.The Atlas of Anchorage Community Indicators makes empirical information about neighborhoods widely accessible to many different audiences. The initial selection of indicators for presentation in the Atlas was inspired by Peter Blau and his interest in measures of heterogeneity (diversity) and inequality and by the work of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. In both cases the measures they developed were well-conceptualized and validated. The Atlas presents community indicators at the census block group level derived from data captured in the 2000 U.S. Census and the 2005 Anchorage Community Survey. All maps in the Atlas are overlaid by Community Council boundaries to facilitate comparisons across maps.