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Demographics - Census Workshops, GIS Workshops

This workshop is customized for each city in which it is taught.

Note: The description below is for the live version of the workshop. This workshop is also offered as a web workshop which includes the same content. Click here to learn about accessing the Demographic Analysis Web Workshop.

Audience

This fast paced, hands on workshop was designed for human service providers, neighborhood activists, grant writers, planners or anyone who would like to easily look up and analyze demographic characteristics of populations and neighborhoods using the Census and American Community Survey. Exercises are designed for beginners.

Objectives

This is a basic, technical workshop that will teach you how to access, analyze, and make online maps using 2000/1990 Census and 2003 American Community Survey data.

This workshop will teach you to extract, query, download, analyze, and map Census demographic data for any community in the United States. Such data can provide grant writers, social researchers and community planners with powerful tools for analyzing community changes. This is a streamlined, "hands on" workshop where each participant works on their own computer throughout the day.

This workshop also provides an introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which includes a discussion of GIS trends and common uses, where to easily obtain mapping files, a demonstration of the map browser ArcExplorer (included with your materials), hands on practice making basic maps online and suggestions for making effective maps.

Workshop Outline

Lesson 1: What Data are Available Where?

Types of data collected in the Census and American Community Survey
Differences between Summary Files 1 - 4 and when it's appropriate to use which data set
Learn what the 2003 American Community Survey has to offer and the differences between the ACS and the Census
Accuracy and under count rates for Census data

Lesson 2: Census Geography

Description of Census geographies
What data is available at what geography
What to do when your target area boundaries do not match Census geography boundaries
Analyzing change over time

Lesson 3: Extracting and Analyzing Demographic Data for the American Factfinder

How to efficiently extract, local, disaggregated, custom Census data and 2003 American Community Survey data
Explore a wide range of variables including poverty, language, age, income and housing variables
Construct a Community Change Profile for a community of your choice using several core demographic variables
Use common formulas to express data in interesting and compelling ways

Lesson 4: Things You Should Know (so as not to be a dangerous analyst)

Recommendations on ways to analyze Race/Ethnicity, Income, Age, Housing and Population
Examples of how to present this type of information
Common and helpful formulas for working with the data sets above

Lesson 5: Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

What is GIS, how is it commonly used
Downloading and working with free shapefiles for your analysis, where to get various types of shapefiles
Working with ArcExplorer, bringing in shapefiles, creating thematic maps in ArcExplorer
Creating maps online through American Factfinder