Open data refers to information that can be freely used and redistributed, avoiding personal data. In grant proposals, effective use of both internal and external data can enhance credibility and address the statement of need and program design. The document lists various sources of open data relevant to different sectors, such as healthcare, education, and agriculture, as well as specific databases for federal and local analysis.

1. Open Data Sources for Grants
Jason Parker

2. What is “open data”?
 Open data is data that can be freely used, reused,
and redistributed by anyone.
 Open data should never contain information about
specific individuals.
 When using open data sources, you should always
cite your sources, including the name of the dataset,
the agency that compiled the dataset, and the URL.
 It’s also a good idea to include the data when you
accessed the data set.

3. Data in grant proposals
 Data can be used to strength various sections of a
grant proposal
 The statement of need is typically the section of a
proposal that benefits the most from robust use of
data.
 Add broader context to descriptions of the identified need
and the proposed beneficiaries  social, economic,
demographic, linguistic, educational, etc.
 Program/project design is another section that can
benefit from data.
 Why did your agency make specific choices?
 How did you decide to serve certain people instead of
others?

4. Data in grant proposals
 Ideally, two types of data should be present in a
proposal:
 Internal data that has been collected by your agency
 External data from trusted, reliable third party sources
 Internal data show how an agency tracks, analyzes,
and evaluates community needs and responses to
those needs.
 External data place your agency and community into
a broader context (social, economic, demographic,
etc.).
 By effectively showing the relationship between
internal and external data, you establish your
agency’s credibility and expertise in the field.

5. U.S. Census
 The Census is the definitive
source of information about
the population of the United
States.
 http://www.census.gov/
 The Census counts every
person in the USA.
 American Community Survey
(ACS) covers a broader
variety of topics.
 ACS is a statistical survey
that polls 250k households
per month.

6. Census and American Community Survey
 State & County QuickFacts
 http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html
 American FactFinder
 http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xht
ml
 Easy Stats
 http://www.census.gov/easystats/
 Economic Census
 http://www.census.gov/econ/census/

7. Major federal government agencies
 Many federal agencies provide data sets relevant to
their area of expertise.
 If your organization applies for funding from a federal
agency, you should look for data sets made available
by that agency.
 http://www.data.gov/
 The primary portal for access to open data provided
by the U.S. government.
 “Topics” menu leads to specific subject areas.

8. Healthcare
 National Center for Health Statistics
 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/
 HealthData.gov
 https://www.healthdata.gov/
 Health Resources and Services Administration data
warehouse
 http://datawarehouse.hrsa.gov/

9. Education
 U.S. Department of Education
 http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/landing.jhtml
 National Center for Education Statistics
 http://nces.ed.gov/
 Data.gov Education topic subdirectory
 https://www.data.gov/education/
 The Nation’s Report Card
 http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/

10. Energy
 Department of Energy
 http://energy.gov/data/open-energy-data
 U. S. Energy Information Administration
 http://www.eia.gov/
 Data.gov Energy topic subdirectory
 https://www.data.gov/energy/

11. Agriculture
 U.S. Department of Agriculture
 http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=D
ATA_STATISTICS
 National Agriculture Statistics Services
 http://www.nass.usda.gov/
 Census of Agriculture
 http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/

12. National, non-government
 Kids Count Data Center
 http://datacenter.kidscount.org/

13. Global data
 United Nations
 http://data.un.org/
 Provides a directory of statistical services in member
nations

14. Global data
 Google Public Data Explorer
 https://www.google.com/publicdata/directory
 DataMarket
 https://datamarket.com/

15. Tennessee
 Transparent Tennessee
 http://www.tn.gov/opengov/
 Currently only relates to the states finances.
 TNDepartment of Education
 http://tn.gov/education/data/index.shtml
 State Report Card:
http://tn.gov/education/data/report_card/index.shtml
 TN Department of Labor and Workforce
Development
 http://www.tn.gov/labor-wfd/lmi.shtml
 Jobs4TN: https://www.jobs4tn.gov

16. Nashville
 Metro Government of Nashville recently started an
open data initiative
 https://data.nashville.gov/
 Metro Social Services – Planning & Coordination
 http://www.nashville.gov/Social-Services/Planning-And-
Coordination.aspx
 NashvilleNext
 http://www.nashville.gov/Government/NashvilleNext.aspx
 Check out the background reports

17. Nashville
 Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce – Research
Center
 http://www.nashvillechamber.com/homepage/BusinessNas
hville/research-center
 Check out the Nashville Datascape 2014
 MNPD Crime Reports and Maps
 http://www.nashville.gov/Police-Department/News-and-
Reports/Crime-Statistics.aspx
 Citizens’ Guide to the Metro Budget
 http://www.nashville.gov/Finance/Management-and-
Budget/Citizens-Guide-to-the-Budget.aspx

18. Media outlets
 Many publications are investing heavily in data-oriented
features and blogs. These sites can be
great resources for discovering new data sets as
they are made available.
 Bloomberg Visual Data
 http://www.bloomberg.com/visual-data/
 FiveThirtyEight
 http://fivethirtyeight.com/
 The Guardian
 http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog

19. Next-level geekiness
 GitHub
 GibHub is a web-based hosting service for code
repositories.
 It is primarily intended for developers and coders.
 Many people have created scripts and other software that
“scrape” the web for data and format that data in easy-to-use
tables, such as .csv files.
 Example:
 http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2014
 https://github.com/tminard/download-inc-5000