The Internet Mapping for Communities (IM4C) project represents an innovative partnership between local organizations addressing the needs of Maine's children. Working together, they will create a secure, easily accessible website that provides census, economic, and agency data at the town level, in the form of downloadable GIS maps and tables. The project will develop a model portal that helps local community coalitions identify and locate the kinds of data they require.
Communities for Children, an initiative of the Governor's Children's Cabinet, developed this project to support a statewide network of 71 community-level partner coalitions. The State has charged these coalitions with conducting local needs assessments and planning for prevention, health promotion and positive youth development programs throughout the state. Potential beneficiaries of the IM4C approach also include other community groups across the county working with data that depict the "human ecology."
The IM4C will produce reports that incorporate data relevant to the well being of local communities. Maps, charts, graphs, and tables will be available in these reports, which can be built on-line and downloaded, providing local communities with a powerful tool for planning, decision-making, fund raising and evaluation. The project will work with communities to determine possible uses, assist in the selection of data elements/indicators and facilitate the use of these data with community groups. In addition, the system will accommodate additional data sets from a variety of state and local sources.
A Project Advisory and Content Review Team and community level data teams will draw on stakeholders from the state and local levels. Stakeholders will represent Maine's Children's Cabinet agencies, the Muskie School at the University of Southern Maine, InforME (the state website host), the State Planning Office, Maine OGIS, and local Communities for Children Partners.
