Sacramento County

[roughani]

The California Health Data Project team is exploring the feasibility of developing a method to crowdsource human services data statewide so that application developers can query data from a single database and enable those apps to work across the state of California. In order to get there, we first need to understand local efforts to collect, standardize, and make this data available. We're using GitHub Issues and working in the open, so that we can better understand who's doing what and where the greatest synergies lie.

Some of the questions we're interested in include:

• Who operates 211 in your county?
• Are there other entities in your county that currently collect and publish human services data?
• How is human services data collected and published in your county? Are there efforts underway to modernize how this data is collected and published?
• Does the data conform to an open standard, such as the Human Services Data Specification? Can the data be accessed via API?
• Are local stakeholders interested in publishing this data to a statewide database?
• What are your general thoughts, questions, or concerns about crowdsourcing human services data?

Please use this thread to discuss efforts applicable to Sacramento County.

[joelrip]

Had a good discussion with Richard Abrusci at Goodwill yesterday. Goodwill has taken over 211 Sacramento, and Richard oversees it. Quick takeaways from the meeting:

• 211 Sacramento uses iCarol, the industry leader in 211 software.
• iCarol has a standard taxonomy and data format. [Is this HSDS? Follow up.]
• CommunityLink has been operating 211 at a significant loss.
• An ongoing project out of Wash U. in St. Louis called 211 Counts is creating almost real-time dashboards of 211 call center data nationwide.
• Goodwill is very interested in all 211 providers using the same format and accessing each other's data. This is difficult to do. 211 LA cited as creating their own software and taxonomy that doesn't play well with anyone else.
• A fellow at Kaiser (Katherine Rogers) was working on a resource locator service recently.
• Skeptical of using completely open, crowdsourced data to provide info to call center. Would likely not meet AIRS/CAIRS specifications.
• No agreement with iCarol prevents them from uploading their data to another resource.
• Should talk to Beth Haslett at WEAVE.
• 211 CA created an app - take a look.