In our previous post, we described the challenge faced by our partners at Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS). We analyzed a sample of about 11,000 MCPS students to determine if the MCPS early warning indicator system was reliably identifying students who may be off track and therefore at risk for not graduating on time. [...]
[Apply today for DSSG 2015!] The Data Science for Social Good Summer Fellowship (DSSG) is like summer camp for adults. Summer camp like the youth programs where you met interesting people, came together to devote your time to a particular interest, and learned new things from each other. DSSG is a summer camp where the [...]
[Apply today for DSSG 2015!] Rapid growth, followed by a period of suburbanization and instability, ending with a gradual rebirth of the core: that’s the last hundred years in a nutshell for most American cities. But the recent wave of urban reinvestment has been uneven, especially since the financial meltdown of 2008. Some central city [...]
On Monday, applications will open for fellows, mentors, project managers, and project partners for Data Science for Social Good 2015. We'll publish more information about those categories and our plans for the program's third year then as well. For now, please enjoy the first of three videos on the 2014 fellowship filmed by Scrappers Film [...]
In June, it was just rows and rows of data: property assessments, school records, smart meter readings, contract bids, and census results. By the end of August, this raw material was transformed into tools for detecting international corruption and political earmarks, predicting buildings that pose lead hazards and students at risk of dropping out, and [...]
“When we enter our clients’ homes, we’re not just nurses, we’re also confidants and counselors,” said nurses from Nurse-Family Partnership’s DuPage County, Illinois local agency. For decades, Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), a national non-profit organization that sends specially-trained nurses into the homes of young, low-income, first-time mothers until their babies are 2 years old, has demonstrated [...]
"We believe that ending homelessness is possible and that, in Chicago, everyone should have a home." - Chicago's Plan 2.0: A Home for Everyone Problem definition On a bitterly cold night in January 2013, Chicago counted more than 6,000 people without a home. While so many Chicagoans are without one of the most basic human [...]
Despite advances in prenatal and postnatal health care, maternal mortality remains a major medical problem around the world. According to the World Health Organization, 800 women die every day from preventable pregnancy and childbirth-related causes, with 99 percent of those deaths occurring in developing countries. In 1990, the United Nations made reducing maternal mortality by [...]
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." - Nelson Mandela In today’s world where innovation and creativity are the key drivers of any economy, the importance of educating young minds is unquestionable. Governments invest massive resources to ensure that primary and secondary education is within reach for all [...]
Environmental causes typically work to preserve portions of the planet in their pre-human state. But conservation groups are increasingly finding ways of using modern technology to support their mission, allowing them to gather more information about the areas they protect and better argue to decision-makers and local residents why they are worth protecting. The Tropical [...]
