SPRINGFIELD—(ENEWSPF)—December 8, 2017
By: Rosemary Piser
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Cabinet on Children and Youth turned on a new data dashboard this week that policymakers and the public can use to make better-informed decisions about the health, safety, education and work readiness of those in Illinois younger than 25.
Governor Rauner said, “When it comes to policy, we know the best decisions for children and families are those that are data-driven. Since our goal is equity, we must constantly look at the data and research to drive our work.”
The dashboard was created by the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology to advance the aims of cabinet member agencies, including the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development and the departments of Public Health and Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO).
According to Julio Rodriguez, DCEO deputy director of the Office of Employment and Training, the dashboard …”will help us track the success of the Apprenticeship PLUS initiative that was launched earlier this year and it will allow the department to identify more ways to help youth make informed career choices.”
The dashboard will cover 42 metrics, pulling together public information from multiple Illinois agencies.
Kirk Lonbom, acting secretary at the Department of Innovation & Technology, said “Our data analytics team at DoIT is pleased to provide a system that can improve the lives of children in our state.”
Education data points will include post-secondary retention rates and reading levels. Self-sufficiency measures include education attainment levels, median earnings for youth at 25 and student debt default rates. The safety data will track the percentage of youth living in “safe” neighborhoods, rates of domestic violence, incarceration and recidivism rates among other subjects.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Nirav Shah said the data will be key in youth health decision-making.
Additional information about the Governor’s Cabinet on Children and Youth can be found here.
Source: www.illinois.gov
