Berks Vital Signs is an initiative of the Berks Community Foundation and Alvernia University . It is aimed at deepening knowledge and understanding of Berks County. The data and analysis will serve as a common source of information on critical topics that affect the health and progress of Berks County and inform community stakeholders, spur discussion and collaboration, and monitor our quality of life.

Our overview report will be updated annually, and the online data will be updated more frequently to allow for continual monitoring of the community’s evolving needs.

Using this data, the Berks Community Foundation will help the community create a shared vision for Berks future and build a data-driven civic agenda to realize that vision. The Berks Community Foundation will then facilitate partnerships and strategic initiatives that help align the community’s resources to support the agenda.

This project includes data for Berks County, six surrounding counties (Chester, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery and Schuylkill), the state of Pennsylvania, the nation and local areas within Berks County, broken into five regions and Reading City. The internal county regions are made up of boroughs and townships within Berks County. The internal regions are Central (five boroughs and townships including Reading City), Northeast (18 boroughs and townships), South (12 boroughs and townships), Southeast (13 boroughs and townships) and West (25 boroughs and townships).