With the severe cuts to federal programs such as Medicaid and SNAP benefits on the immediate horizon, Connecticut needs to bolster its data infrastructure to ensure the limited dollars the state will be receiving are targeted to those most in need and are having the intended impact.
Several actions during the 2025 legislative session have moved the state closer to strengthening the technical infrastructure needed to support services that generate data for evaluating impact. Most recently, lawmakers have invested in childcare, reduced the cost burden on families, created Baby Bonds to fight generational poverty, and developed strategies to re-engage disconnected youth. Amidst a national climate where protections for vulnerable populations are eroding, Connecticut stands out for its commitment to its future.
Two policy initiatives —Baby Bonds and universal early childcare— have the potential to be transformative for the lives of Connecticut’s children. However, to realize their full impact, it’s essential that we implement systems capable of tracking progress.
Investing in our children’s future not only benefits our youth, it helps develop a stronger workforce for the future. Ensuring the recipients of the bonds are on a path to success will require cooperation among state agencies, characterized by interagency data sharing and measurement of outcomes.
Realizing the potential of this approach will require coordination not only among state agencies but also among nonprofits that administer services for the state. A key component in achieving success is a state data intermediary. The Office of Policy and Management and WestEd’s Data Integration Support Center have outlined what it would take: infrastructure, governance, and technical assistance to help nonprofits build the capacity they’ll need. This is just the foundation, and Connecticut can aim towards being the lead change agent in understanding youth outcomes.
Imagine a fully-functioning data ecosystem where nonprofit staff are not just reporting on state grants 12 months after the intervention, but where nonprofit staff are data leaders who are trained, resourced, and trusted to shape how information is collected, governed, and used. Imagine linked data from birth through young adulthood available not only to policymakers, but to the communities themselves. Youth and families could see their own stories reflected in the numbers and help guide interventions that make sense in their communities.
The Hartford Data Collaborative serves as a data intermediary that has successfully linked data from local nonprofits, the City of Hartford, and Hartford Public Schools, to provide insights including: which youth are being served by programs and how many residents in a specific neighborhood are accessing services and programs designed for them.
An established data governance process ensures data privacy, with providers driving the learning agenda. This groundbreaking initiative incorporates the community voice into the data work through the Hartford’s Youth Data Fellows program, which brings young people directly into the hands-on analysis and advocacy.
In addition, CTData Collaborative currently creates data strategic plans for nonprofit organizations through CTData’s Strategic Planning program so that nonprofits are realizing the potential of their data assets. The CTData Academy, which already offers an array of data-centric training for state residents, could deepen its role in training nonprofit staff to tell stories with data, and these stories could support the difficult decisions lawmakers, funders, and communities must make. This is not an abstract dream. These are the building blocks for a data ecosystem that would measure actual progress.
Connecticut has the opportunity to lead the nation in demonstrating how data, when shared responsibly and equitably, can transform the way we support our most vulnerable youth. A statewide data intermediary is not just another policy solution, it is the key that can unlock the knowledge already held by hundreds of nonprofits, turn it into collective action, and building far-reaching system response.
We need to think seriously about what we can do locally to preserve the efficacy of data and how we can build a better data infrastructure within our state to better serve our residents. Doing so is within our reach.
It is time for the state to take meaningful steps forward to by establishing pilot programs with philanthropically supported initiatives like the Hartford Data Collaborative to bring local data infrastructure to the next level. By linking local data with state data, we will 1) better inform policy making at the state and local level, 2) have necessary data to make better programmatic decisions, and 3) track the long-term success of program initiatives and the communities they serve.
Uncertainty about the future and de-investment from the federal government should not defeat us. In fact, it should energize us to think differently, invest wisely, make strategic decisions using data, and take pride in strengthening our social systems that support all our residents.
Michelle Riordan-Nold is Executive Director of the Connecticut Data Collaborative, which coordinates the Hartford Data Collaborative and Hartford Youth Data Fellows program, and operates the CTData Academy.