How Community-Based Organizations View and Use Data: Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities.

This analysis aimed to define the data needs of community-based organizations (CBOs) after the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a mixed-methods explanatory sequential design during the summer/fall of 2023, 51 CBOs completed surveys and 24 participated in subsequent interviews. The CBOs provided social services to Black, Latinx, Asian, and/or low-income communities in the Chicago region. They varied in size, funding sources, and focus areas. Results showed that all used data, and 82.4% used population-level data. Data use expansion was limited by funding, staffing, data management systems, and skills. Existing population-level data was not sufficiently hyper-local, updated, and culturally appropriate to meet CBOs' needs. Community-based organization data needs and challenges have not changed significantly post-COVID despite rapid expansion of data availability. Findings highlight a need for long-term infrastructure funding and partnership from external agencies. Flexible tailored approaches to support CBOs are essential to increase social trust in data and ensure CBO missions remain community-driven.