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Sarasota News Leader December 7, 2012 OPINION and other professionals — for example, by census tract or block group, zip code, precinct or attendance zone. Recognizing citizens as the primary change agents of our community means organizing data by resident-defined neighborhoods and ensuring the data are flexible enough to be re-organized as residents continue to clarify and redefine boundaries. Over the past two decades, the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership has been advancing neighborhood data efforts in dozens of cities across the U.S. Here in Sarasota County, such efforts started over a decade ago. They have grown significantly over the past two years, but we still have a long way to go. • Keep inventing. To become a community that continuously improves through the use of data, we will need to create new approaches to data. As Lisbeth Schorr (senior fellow, Center for the Study of Social Policy) said, "Breakthrough impacts depend on making [established practices] the start of our knowledge base, not the final destination." There is still much room for invention when it comes to community data, especially with regard to organizing data and data processes around the actions and perspectives of residents. Page 65 ident to us that the time has come for a new organization committed to keeping these imperatives central to its mission — hence the establishment of the Sarasota Community Studio. The messages are just as relevant to other resident groups and organizations grappling with the ever-changing nature of community. One network through which this community can "grapple together" locally is the Community Data Collaborative. This Collaborative is not a "project" of any particular organization; instead, it comprises individuals from diverse associations and institutions throughout the county. Formed in 2011, it works to clarify community indicators, develop community data sets, establish a resident-centric online data platform and promote the use of community data throughout Sarasota County. Everyone who recognizes the power of residents to effect community change is encouraged to get involved — especially neighborhood groups. Materials generated by the Collaborative and partner organizations are available online at SCcommunitydatacollaborative.weebly.com. The resounding message of the 2012 CIC Summit was this: The data revolution is upon us. Focusing on change, challenging the status How do we choose to be a part of it? quo, generating data for neighborhoods and inventing new approaches — we experience Editor's note: Allison Pinto and Tim Dutton are these messages as more than challenges. co-executive directors of Sarasota Community We see them as imperatives for community Studio and founding members of the Commuwell-being. Over the past year, it became ev- nity Data Collaborative of Sarasota County. %