Turning Data into Action: Interactive Pathway to Advance Child and Family Well-Being in Kansas

Staff at the Achievement and Assessment Institute’s Center for Public Partnerships and Research know that for community well-being to become a reality, policymakers and community members and leaders must have data to inform decision-making. But defining and tracking well-being and then translating that data in an accessible and organized way can be a challenge. Meeting the challenge head on behalf of the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, CPPR is developing a Kansas-wide interactive Child and Well-Being Pathway, including an interactive dashboard and toolkit, to better communicate the needs of children and families across the state.  

The project began in 2023 by engaging lived experts and conducting a systematic review of existing theory and evidence defining well-being. The aim was to create a comprehensive and family-driven definition of well-being that could be measured and assessed at a community level. Using data from this exploration, researchers identified domains of well-being and the data indicators that when tracked and understood together, illustrate holistic well-being. 

“It is community engaged and community driven work. We have co-designed and validated this tool with community providers and lived experts along the way to create a meaningful tool that makes community well-being data accessible to all. We believe well-being is everyone’s collective responsibility and by making these data accessible and understandable, we build community capacity to take local ownership of those outcomes and strategies for strengthening well-being,” said CPPR Associate Director Kaela Byers. 

The Pathway, set to be completed in the second half of 2025, will look at every county in Kansas’ access to basic needs, community-level strengths and gaps, community-based family resources, and social determinants of health. The dashboard will provide a score, indicating progress along the pathway toward well-being. The associated toolkit will offer recommendations and resources on how counties can improve in specific areas along with local “bright spots” demonstrating success in building community-capacity for child and family well-being.  

“We want communities to feel like well-being is achievable and that they can take action even if they haven't yet,” CPPR Assistant Director Meghan Cizek said. “If communities are disappointed in their level of well-being in a specific domain, we don’t want that to be a barrier to action. We hope the toolkit can turn that feeling into action. It gives communities a tangible place to start that we hope turn into quick wins and greater momentum.” 

The recommendations and resources the toolkit provides will be specific to the indicator the data highlights. For example, when a user looks at their county, the dashboard might indicate that there is room for improvement in the domain of learning and development. The Pathway dashboard combines publicly available data to assign a score between one and ten to every well-being domain and indicator describing how well the county is meeting that need – are they getting started, strengthening, or excelling. The dashboard will provide data points and specific actions they can take to improve, and examples of how other Kansas communities have progressed. 

Bright spots in the toolkit include Kansas examples of initiatives and activities where efforts have led to improvements in community well-being. Cizek said she hopes to include a way for communities to add their own bright spots to the dashboard so that others can learn and develop their own action steps towards well-being. 

“We want this dashboard and toolkit to serve as an opportunity for people to look at other counties and say, ‘who's doing well in this and who can I learn from?’” Cizek said. “We hope counties will feel empowered to connect to each other, to connect with us, and to learn from some success stories that are happening around the state.”  

 The data presented on the dashboard will be updated annually to give an accurate picture of the well-being landscape in Kansas. Cizek said she hopes the dashboard being both interactive and timely will make it easier for policymakers to see the impacts of investing in well-being.  

“Investing in families and well-being is hard to see quickly, and I think that that's one of the challenges,” Cizek said. “People are less likely to invest in prevention because it's harder to see the impact, and you don’t know what you might have prevented. I think the dashboard will give people a clearer picture and will allow us to start shifting away from reactive services and start investing in proactive supports and services that build and strengthen well-being for Kansas children, families, and communities.”