Other Data Sources

1. The Fourth Economy Community Index is an effort to document what key indicators are measures of current and predictors of future vibrant communities. The Index model incorporates twenty different indicators in the areas of Investment, Talent, Sustainability, Place, and Diversity.

2. YourEconomy.org (YE) is an online information tool that allows users to analyze business activity from the community level, to the state level, and across the country. YE tracks the performance of more than 61 million U.S. businesses from 2016 back through 1997, providing detailed information about jobs, sales and establishments.

3. Find performance results for Rowan County public schools from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction here or use a Charlotte Observer compiled database here.

4. The annual County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program is a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. It measures vital health factors, including high school graduation rates, obesity, smoking, unemployment, access to healthy foods, the quality of air and water, income inequality, and teen births. See Rowan County results here.

5. The Institute for Emerging Issues at North Carolina State University has developed ReCONNECT County Snapshots, an interactive tool that allows viewers to see indicators of community connectedness.

6. New & Expanding Businesses

7. International Businesses

A community’s success largely comes from its ability to help people make connections as well – to their neighbors, to job opportunity, to health, to surrounding communities and to technological assets. Strengthened connections can inspire people and help communities harness collective energy in order to maximize their assets and more effectively address challenges in the local community.

The ReCONNECT County Snapshots are designed to inspire community conversations and collaborations about sustaining and improving community connections. In addition to dashboard metrics, Snapshots includes a visualization to help communities “see” their strengths and challenges in each ReCONNECT NC focus area.
To view Rowan County’s “connectedness” score, and County Strengths Radar Chart, click here.