Government data and information for public entrepreneurship
Municipal, local and national level financial data, demographics and market information sources to inform and support public sector entrepreneurship
Where can I find government data (federal, municipal, city, etc.)?
Lists of and Access to Open Data Repositories
Opendata.org: over 500 local, regional, and national datasets from around the world, collected by data experts. Use your browser’s find feature, as there is very little indexing.
USAFacts.org: USAFacts is a non-partisan, not for profit initiative to provide easily searchable and displayed data on the American population, government finances, and impact on society. Data is exclusively from publicly available government data sources.
Forbes list of 85 municipal open data sites
Where can I find information on spending for local governments?
You can find a variety of cities who make data available via easy to navigate “Open Budgets”
Ex:
Look at the resources above for more, or a simple Google search of town/city name and “open budget”
What topics are of most concern to city administrators and residents?
News Sources by Region
Factiva - access to many national and local newspapers. Limit by location (look under “Location”) or search specific local newspapers (look under “Source”)
ABI Proquest - additional access to national and local publications. Limit by Geography in the Advanced Search.
Nexis Uni – more access to thousands of local newspapers. Go to Menu > All Sources> Limit by Category > News and Jurisdiction.
Citizen Satisfaction Surveys
Google search city/town and “citizen satisfaction survey”
Local area foundations, think tanks and organizations (both governmental and non-governmental) publications
ex. BostonIndicators.org, The Miami Foundation, National League of Cities - Center for City Solutions, Living Cities
Web Search Trends by Geography
Twitter Trends by Geography
Twitter advanced search allows you to limit by geography, date, specific users, and more.
What are the Demographics/market size of the area?
There are a variety of data sources available to you – including Geographical Information Services (GIS).
SimplyAnalytics - generate tables and maps for the United States including population, age, race, income, employment, and education. Our subscription also allows access to Experian Simmons Local for market research data and D&B for business demographics.
PolicyMap - capture data through custom demographic maps, tables, reports and Analytics. Available data includes demographics, home sale statistics, health data, mortgage trends, school performance scores and labor data like unemployment, crime statistics and city crime rates.
Social Progress Index - provides access to the US Social Progress Map and the Social Progress Index Time Series to measure the social progress at the state level or global level via interactive maps. HBS users also have access to the Social Progress Index Time Series data.
Explore Census Data - access to data about the United States, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas. The data comes from many censuses and surveys including the American Community Survey, American Housing Survey and the Economic Census.
Additional Resources and Reading
Government Guides
U.S. Local Government Resources Research Guide (Harvard Kennedy School Library)
Journals
Government Information Quarterly is an international journal that examines the intersection of policy, information technology, government, and the public. Focused on how policies affect government information flows and the availability of government information; the use of technology to create and provide innovative government services; the impact of IT on the relationship between the governed and those governing; and the increasing significance of information policies and IT in relation to democratic practices.
Stanford Social Innovation Review - Cities
Books
Websites
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