I am writing about the Human Services Data Project (HSData) and to encourage your participation in this important effort.

As you may already know, HSData is a cross-sector led initiative to help New York City nonprofit organizations more easily and effectively manage data, benchmark performance and share information with key stakeholders and funding sources.   

The priorities of HSData are to allow NYC’s human service providers to:

• Track performance results in relation to common measures to facilitate peer learning and progress within their respective fields.  This involves identifying those core results that practitioners believe are important and meaningful; ensuring these metrics have clear definitions so that everyone means the same thing when they use the same words; and then incorporating these metrics into the City’s ongoing funding processes.

• Analyze financial information to gain insights about their own fiscal practices.  This analysis should help nonprofits assess their own fiscal health with reference to other, similar organizations and articulate the full, true cost of program activities so they can better understand the implications of operating with public funding.

• Store institutional documents in an electronic repository to reduce the redundant exchange of paperwork with multiple funding sources.

Over the next six months, the HSData team, including advisors and consultants, will be soliciting input from you and other service providers about your performance measurement and financial related priorities and challenges.  The extensive process will include surveys, focus groups, and comment opportunities.  The first survey will be circulated in the coming weeks. 

I strongly encourage you to participate and add your voice to the HS Data process.  Our aim is to ensure that HSData’s common metrics and tools reflect the perspective of New York City’s service providers, and that will only be possible if you and others contribute your viewpoint.

To learn more about HSData, please visit hsdata-nyc.org and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Project Coordinator, Erica Seldin, at eseldin@hhsaccelerator.nyc.gov.

Thank you in advance for your participation, and I look forward to working together.

Best Regards,

Linda I. Gibbs

Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services