Changes Aim to Enhance Regional Decision Making to Support Workforce, Community Development, and Cyberspace
The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s (MORPC) Regional Data Advisory Committee (RDAC) has made updates to the detailed plan guiding its work as a regional leader in data, with the goal of propelling the region to the forefront of data utilization.
The recently adopted 2023-2025 Regional Data Agenda is a product of MORPC’s RDAC, which evaluates and advises the commission and staff on matters of regional importance pertaining to data. RDAC members include data experts representing the public, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors.
With a mission of advancing data policies and strategic actions to increase access to open data in Central Ohio, RDAC members have spent the first part of 2023 working on aspects of the agency’s Regional Data Agenda and gauging priorities for the next two years – with a focus on advancing the region as a leader in the use of data to enhance the work of the public sector.
“As our tech scene garners national attention, the 2023-2025 Regional Data Agenda outlines how the MORPC member community is collaborating to harness the power of data-driven innovation to improve the lives of Central Ohio residents. This ambitious agenda strengthens our region by catalyzing improved decision-making while transforming how local agencies can support workforce, community development, and cybersecurity through best practice, knowledge, and resource sharing.”
The data agenda consists of six overarching goals, covering objectives to provide additional focus and action items that can be implemented to achieve them, and covers much of the ongoing work of MORPC’s Data & Mapping Department.
The Regional Data Agenda goals are:
CONVENE & COLLABORATE: Foster value-added interactions among local governments and other stakeholders to enhance the use of data through robust sharing of best practices, analytics, and research in support of improved data-driven decision-making in our region.
EDUCATE & INSPIRE: Provide and champion learning opportunities to increase technical capacity and appropriate leveraging of data; catalyzing local governments and other stakeholders to adopt improved methods in support of better-informed decision making in our region.
SCALE & SUPPORT: Help empower local governments and other stakeholders to incubate and fund data-related pilot projects and develop talent, while ensuring existing efforts are sustainably supported in our ever-changing regional landscape.
EXPAND & INCLUDE: Identify barriers and provide solutions to improve inclusive and equitable data access across our region.
SECURE & PROTECT: Promote renewed focus on the security and resilience of systems and data through best practices and policy reviews with local governments and other stakeholders in the region.
“The most exciting aspect of the new agenda is that it’s action oriented. Committee members took great care to craft goals and objectives where we are well-positioned to make a positive impact on a regional scale. We plan to break new ground and support existing initiatives, exploring ways to collaborate, educate, expand access, and pilot programs, while protecting our data.”
