Community 2020™ Project Evaluation Report

Since August 1996, the Coalition for Low Income Community Development (CLICD) has been working on a HUD-funded demonstration project to give eight community organizations in Allegheny County, PA and Pittsburgh, PA, and six organizations in southern California, the opportunity to learn about and use HUD's mapping software package -- Community 2020.

Following are five major conclusions we have drawn from our work with Community 2020. The conclusions are followed by quotes from recent evaluations submitted by the eight Pittsburgh/Allegheny County and the six southern CA organizations who received training and technical assistance from us on the software.

1. Community 2020 is a valuable tool for nonprofit housing and community development organizations. However, many organizations will find that it is a complex program that can be difficult to learn and use. 

"I have come to realize that to use [Community 2020] effectively, one needs to spend much time not only learning the software, which is time-consuming itself, but more importantly, learn to use data, statistics and maps effectively."

"On the whole, my expectations [of the software] have decreased as I've found it difficult to use. It is as though I can still see the potential power that it has, but I can't actually get to it. Despite the problems [with the software], I continue to believe that it is a powerful resource. I think it is probably particularly useful for Community Development Corporations, who are more likely to have the expertise to use it than other, more grassroots organizations."

"My expectations of the software 's capabilities are still very high, however, my ability to set time aside to really gain an understanding of it limits my ability to be critical."

2. Community 2020 is being used by nonprofit organizations for many different uses. Only a few organizations intend to or are using it to be more involved in the Consolidated Plan process. It remains to be determined how useful the software is for this purpose.

"This software could be useful in increasing our organization's participation in the Consolidated Plan process . . . Unfortunately, the software alone will probably not generate increased public will to participate more fully in the Consolidated Plan process."

"I was . . . disappointed by the fact that Allegheny County has not provided good data [in the software]. The information is in large blocks of money categorized as "spent county-wide.î This obviously defeats the purpose of seeing where the money is going."

"The software could be useful in increasing citizen involvement in the Consolidated Plan process. We haven't used it that way yet, but particularly in strengthening the case for specific projects and documenting under-served communities, it can be quite powerful. I would be cautious about the problem of CDBG-funded projects not always being "geographical,î though. Showing where a project is located doesn't necessarily show where the people who benefit from it are (especially with job creation issues)."

3. The capacity of the nonprofit organization is a critical factor in determining if they will be able to effectively use the software. The organization must be able and willing to commit a certain level of staff training and time to the software. The organization must also have a Pentium computer and a color printer.

"Time is by far the biggest barrier [to using the software], but sporadic demand for the information is also a problem because it is easy to forget how to use it when it's not used every day."

"With such a long learning curve, finding the time to use it is not as much of a problem as is finding the time to get used to it -- understanding how to work efficiently, getting what you want the first time instead of the fourth."

4. Problems with the completeness, accuracy or timeliness of data are significant for many nonprofits. However, it is evident that HUD is putting a great deal of effort into improving the quality and quantity of data.  Nonprofits must understand that getting good data from HUD and from any other source is a long-term process.

"The biggest barriers are getting and/or compiling useful data to map."

"If the HUD data in the software was better, I would be very excited about it, but it is still a very powerful tool even with the general demographic information."

5. Nonprofit staff who has previous experience with GIS will most likely learn the software more quickly. Those who have no previous GIS experience should receive, ideally, at least four days of training.

"A formal training process is essential with a product this complex."

" . . some formal education is a must for those who have never worked on GIS software before."