About the Community Indicators Consortium

Community indicators help communities around the world answer the question: Are we there yet? Communities are trying to improve the quality of life of their residents. Indicators measure what the community cares about and track whether the community is moving in the right direction. Without indicators, it is difficult to know whether progress is being made on important issues. Those metrics provide essential guidance for action and key tools for appropriate engagement of the public.

The Community Indicator Consortium supports communities’ efforts to use community data to improve quality of life. Since 2005, CIC has provided resources and tools to help communities and practitioners advance the practice and effective use of community indicators.

Vision

Community indicators will be used by all communities to monitor community conditions that create inequity and to facilitate sustainable improvements in quality of life.

Mission

As the worldwide central knowledge and organizational hub for community indicators projects, CIC advances and supports measurable, equitable and sustainable improvements in the quality of community life.

Goals

  • Increase the use of community indicators for monitoring community conditions and advancing sustainability and improvement of community well-being.

  • Promote community engagement as a critical component of community indicators, the baseline from which community indicators should be developed, and the foundation for work to address inequities.

  • Expand linkages and mechanisms, across disciplines, to share knowledge across geographies and between organizations using or promoting the use of indicators.

  • Grow organizational capacity for CIC and community indicators projects.

Activities and Services

Annual Impact Summit

The annual CIC Impact Summit brings together indicator practitioners, think tank analysts, academics, funders, and data providers and facilitates the exchange of knowledge and the development of effective indicators.  The next Impact Summit, CIC’s 14th international conference, will be held in Minneapolis, MN in October.

Educational Opportunities, such as Webinars

CIC offers a host of educational opportunities, including webinars, on key topics of interest to indicator practitioners.  In the past topics have included tools for impact, visualization, equity, and performance measures.  Past webinars are available for members to view any time.

Resources

The CIC website offers the most comprehensive list of indicator projects and indicator resources available anywhere.  Those resources make it easier for cash- and resource-strapped organizations to limit the exploratory phase of their projects and move quicker to delivering impactful products to the community.

Impact Awards

Each year, CIC identifies community indicator projects around the world that best demonstrate the power of indicators to drive positive community change. Those projects provide guidance to the entire field on the many positive directions toward which it can strive.

Discussion boards

Through its LinkedIn page and website, CIC offers a platform for peer-to-peer interactions, allowing for timely discussions and resolution of technical issues or organizational problems, as well as the sharing of innovations, as they arise.  In addition, CIC offers a member-only discussion platform.

Partners