“So What?” – Your BI-Weekly Guide to Advocacy With Impact
Lovingly selected and lightly snarked by Team APEP: David Devlin-Foltz, Susanna Dilliplane, and Alex Gabriel
Uncle Sam Counts
As we residents of the Capital of the Free World (-ish) recover from our soggy 4th of July, we are reminded by the Wall Street Journal that the Census Bureau saves money by employing a cheaper, but somewhat less rigorous survey methodology than a fully random sample. A WSJ paywall may shelter the full text, but untold kazillions of data points and analyses are available for free from our blessed Republic – including this fact-filled article from the Fed whose lead author has one APEP-per kvelling.
Every number tells a story, don’t it?
And because smart use of data gets us all hot and bothered at APEP, we share a terrific guide by DataKind’s Jake Porway on how data and data visualization can tell stories beautifully, intelligently – and sometimes badly. And here’s a recap of his longer talk on the topic. And of course we love it that he says the first question a good data visualization should answer is “so what?” Great taste.
Theory (of Change) Takes Practice
If you like a good Theory of Change – and you know you do, you super-fun evaluator person, you – then you might get all happy about this free web app for drawing your very own TOC. Catch Steve Powell’s AEA365 blog about it here. You may be pining for the old stand-by, TheoryofChange.org, and who are we to keep you pining. Voila.
Late-Breaking News and Congrats
More kvelling for our CARE clients and the many others who contributed to last night’s passage of the Global Food Security Act.
