January is Poverty in America Awareness Month. In 2022, 11.5% of Americans and 15% of children under the age of 18 lived below the federal poverty threshold. In this video, we show you poverty-specific indicators available on SparkMap, create a custom-area Community Needs Assessment, and examine how this data can serve as a foundation for…
In this video, you will learn how to assess the social vulnerability and opportunities within your community or service area. We explain two indices used for these purposes: the Social Vulnerability Index and the Opportunity Index and demonstrate them in our Community Needs Assessment. Then, we dive into three sub-indicators used in the Opportunity index…
September is National Preparedness Month, and this year the focus is on Preparing for Older Adults. In this webinar, we highlight various FEMA disaster risk layers and live wildfire data available for free on SparkMap. Then, we examine a data layer aimed at estimating Community Resilience. Lastly, we walk through a case study to help…
In this webinar, we discuss background information on the United States Decennial Census, highlight multiple free layers available in the SparkMap Map room, and guide you through a use case using the Population Living in Group Quarters indicator in the Community Needs Assessment.
In this SparkMap Webinar, we provide informative definitions of race and ethnicity and discuss the importance of population change to community development. We also highlight the changing landscape of race and ethnicity in the United States and why it’s important. We wrap up by demonstrating how to find and interpret demographics information in both the…
SparkMap is a useful tool for land valuation and management decisions with the NCCPI 3.0 and other soil layers. Using our free Map Room, visitors can easily access the National Commodity Crop Productivity Index 3.0, as well as layers related to soil boundaries, loss tolerance, taxonomy order, hydrologic soil group, and soil taxonomy order. Check…
Take a tour of the SparkMap website refreshed in January 2023. In this video, useful for new and returning SparkMap Subscribers, we provide some tips of how to navigate SparkMap, highlight new features like topic-based Community Needs Assessments and Maps, and walk through enhanced support materials. We also showcase the new logged in user dashboard…
In our November SparkMap Webinar, we explore locating and purchasing local food. Using cropland, harvest, and farmer’s market data layers, we help you discover the crops grown in your area, what historical harvest levels look like, and where to procure these crops at local farmer’s markets near you. Further, using specialized SparkMap tools, we are…