Helping Communities Shine

Whether researching and implementing ways to shape a community's economic development plan or partnering to create ways to put people to work, CREC connects researchers and policymakers with:

     • Data training
     • Custom portfolios that aid regional competitiveness

Project Profile

Promoting Data Sharing to Enhance State Policy Making & Program Evaluation

Laura and John Arnold Foundation
Start Date: Nov 2015 — End Date: Dec 2017

CREC conducted a two-year project (2016-2017) focused on: (1) researching laws and regulations governing the disclosure, or “sharing,” of confidential state business revenue and unemployment insurance data as well as the processes used in establishing agreements to access that data for policy making and program evaluation, and (2) providing technical assistance to states in developing and disseminating best practices on ways to improve state governance and management of data sharing. This project built upon the results of the 2013-2015 Business Incentives Initiative that CREC is completing with The Pew Charitable Trusts and a study on intra-state data sharing (Balancing Confidentiality and Access), conducted by CREC in 2014-2015, with support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Through this project, CREC sought to help states design data confidentiality legislation and regulations that are more data-user-friendly.  CREC also helped states develop more clearly articulated data sharing processes and eligibility requirements.  By improving administrative data access, CREC hoped to enhance the ability of policy makers and practitioners to evaluate and make informed decisions about a variety of state investments.

Research & PlanningTechnical Assistance

About the Client

Laura and John Arnold Foundation

The Laura and John Arnold Foundation’s core objective is to address the nation’s most pressing and persistent challenges using evidence-based, multi-disciplinary approaches. The Foundation strives to create functional solutions that target the root causes, not just the symptoms, of these problems. The solutions must be both scalable nationally and sustainable without permanent philanthropy. Learn more at http://www.arnoldfoundation.org/.