The Human Services Council, founded in 1991, works to ensure New Yorkers from all walks of life and across diverse neighborhoods, cultures, and generations can reach their full human potential. We do this by strengthening New York’s nonprofit human services industry, an economic engine in which the City and State collectively invest $5.8 billion in funding annually.

The Council works with member organizations to be active participants in advocacy, build effective relationships with public officials and the communities they represent, and leverage their collective voice for change. This project aims to help illuminate some of the questions around well-being and health in New York’s communities; understand the kinds of data important to human services organizations; and support human services nonprofits to learn about and better utilize data to assess need and advocate for data and evidence-based policymaking that improves human well-being.

This initiative is part of a two-phase Measure of America project supported by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. Phase I. Measure of America (www.measureofamerica.org) developed and, in October 2015, launched DATA2GO.NYC, a free, easy-to-use online mapping and data tool that provides reliable, up-to-date information on New York City’s neighborhood strengths and challenges. Phase II. Measure of America is producing an accompanying report, A Portrait of New York City 2017, slated for release in 2017. The report will be an engaging, graphically rich report on human need across New York City’s neighborhoods and racial and ethnic groups. The conceptual spine of this report will be American Human Development Index, a supplement to Gross Domestic Product and other money metrics that tells the story of how different groups of people are faring. The micro-portraits generated through the Small Grants Challenge will inform (and some will be featured in) the larger Portrait of NYC project and on the Portrait website.