Regional Trends Analysis
Jefferson Regional Foundation
Economic Resilience
The Jefferson Regional Foundation (JRF) focuses on grantmaking in the South Hills and Mon Valley areas of Pittsburgh, addressing the social determinants of health. Since its founding in March 2013 as part of the affiliation agreement for Jefferson Hospital to join the Allegheny Health Network, the JRF has awarded over $17 million in grants to 120 community organizations.
The communities served by JRF encompass a range of environments—urban, suburban, and rural—each facing unique challenges. JRF engaged Fourth Economy to help assess the alignment of their services and resources to match the growth and diversity of these communities.
Our Approach
We developed an analysis framework to classify data and topics for the partners and working groups. The framework looked at 4 key topics: 1) Who lives in the region? 2) Are basic needs being met for all? 3) Does the region support economic mobility? 4) Is the “quality of place” improving? We engaged with the JRF’s robust network of community partners throughout the process to formulate questions and identify resources to support the analysis.
The Results
The Jefferson Regional Foundation partnered with Fourth Economy Consulting and the University of Pittsburgh Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR) to develop an analysis of the Jefferson Regional Foundation service area. Titled Our Changing Communities: A Review of Data Trends in the Jefferson Regional Service Area, the analysis focuses on changing demographics, economic mobility, and community health. The project included the release of data story maps, written reports, and one-page community snapshots for each community and school district in the Jefferson Regional Foundation’s service area.
This work has provided valuable community-driven data on income, transportation, health insurance, and more across the 26 municipalities and 12 school districts in their service area. Our analyses have informed the Foundation’s grant cycles, which focus on health and wellness, basic needs, education, workforce, economic opportunity, and community engagement. The Foundation has also used our work to promote advocacy, civic engagement, and organizing efforts within the community.
Location
Pittsburgh, PA