What is a Community Profile project?

A Community Profile project provides an objective assessment of a community's performance on key indicators of well–being. This assessment informs decision–making, helping community leaders, policymakers, funders, donors, planners and service providers to optimally leverage their resources.

How can I use the information?

This data and analysis can help decision–makers and all community members identify their community's relative strengths and weaknesses, set priorities and evaluate program–related outcomes, track progress in key areas over time, compare regional trends to state and national benchmarks and foster community dialogue about top issues and challenges.

What geographic area is included in the project?

This project presents data for Cayuga and Seneca counties, as well as for the comparison counties of Onondaga, Ontario, Oswego and Wayne. Data are also presented for New York State (excluding New York City) and the nation, where data were available.

How old are the data?

Every attempt is made to capture the most recent and accurate data. Often data are released with multiple year delays or undergo revision. Newly released data will be captured and posted to the website on a quarterly basis. Additional information on the main data sources used for the project can be found in the About the Data page.

What are the sources of data?

The Center for Governmental Research (CGR) collected and analyzed the best available data from national, state, county and local agencies. Whenever possible, CGR used New York State sources for data rather than data from local sources to ensure consistent definitions and reporting and to enable consistent and reliable comparisons across counties. The data sources are listed on the data table and charts of each indicator. Raw numbers were converted to rates and dollars were adjusted for inflation to provide a reasonable basis for comparisons.

Whom can I contact with questions?

Cayuga County United Way and Seneca County United Way jointly commissioned the Center for Government Research (CGR) to collect and analyze the data and maintain the website for this project. Information on how to reach each organization is available on the Contact Us page.