A new book, What Counts: Harnessing Data for America’s Communities, released earlier this year, features an essay by ICMA staff members Cory Fleming and Randall Reid. Drawing on ICMA's long history of leadership in performance measurement, the essay explores how local governments are breaking new ground in using data for performance management and analytics. 

The book explores the use of data to design new approaches to improving lives in low-income communities. In addition to addressing specific measures such as poverty rates, employment rates, graduation rates, and health status, the book answers such questions as:

• What's important to consider when deciding which data to collect and analyze?
• How can data be used to determine resource gaps, service redundancies, or opportunities for cost savings?
• Why are standard metrics and data important?
• How can practitioners transform data into actionable information and compelling stories and get key messages into the hands of decision-makers?

Published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and The Urban Institute, the book has been downloaded 4,000 times, and more than 4,500 copies have been distributed. 

To download a free e-version of the book, go to www.whatcountsforamerica.org.