California Regional Indicators

Community indicators are tools to measure a community's well-being. Quality of Life Indicator projects promote and monitor progress toward sustainable vitality, quality and inclusion for the economy, environment, and people (equity) across the 3 E's.

The indicators may range from the crime rate in an area to the soil drainage capacity, but all can help regions to track and prioritize their own distinct strengths and challenges. This data is also a catalyst for civic engagement, educating and mobilizing residents and policymakers to action in their communities.California's Regional Collaboratives (RCs) have been at the cutting edge of innovation in the emerging field of Regional Quality of Life Indicators.

Through a recent report (2.9 MB, PDF) documenting California's 14 projects and a network of practitioners, CCRL is working to build the capacity of current and new indicator projects.The report, titled Telling Our Story, Measuring Our Progress: California's Regional Quality of Life Indicator Projects, serves as a best practice and technical resource, documents what has been learned at a regional level, analyzes and compares data sets across regions, identifies emerging issues of policy importance through the development of new indicators, and lays the groundwork for a community of practice.

With the plethora of projects that have sprung up in California, there is much to be gained from working more closely together and sharing resources within the state. CCRL is working with CALCOG and some of California's regional Councils of Government to develop a region-based statewide indicators report, the first of its kind in California. CCRL is the final stages of assembling the funding for this project. Check this website and the CalRegions newsletter for future developments.