Data Parties: Giving the Community Tools to Use East Metro Pulse Survey Data

Community indicators data often sit unused by those who are actively working to make their communities a better place. It can be difficult for many residents and advocates to understand where to access data and how to appropriately use it to inform decisions, policies, and programs. Data parties provide an opportunity for researchers and evaluators to coach community members as they dive deeper into community indicators data sets and to determine how to use the data for progress and improved well-being. Wilder Research and the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation have partnered since 2016 on East Metro Pulse, a survey of community well-being in Saint Paul, MN, and the surrounding 3-county area. After seeing community members struggle to use the results of the first survey, we used data parties to bring those working in non-profits, government, and business together to learn how to read a data book and communicate what they learned to their stakeholders. In this article, we provide a description of how we planned and implemented these data parties, lessons learned for those interested in facilitating their own data parties, and examples of how organizations in Minnesota used what they learned in their data party in their own work.