Data Visualization Images Seek to Define Political Season

For an interesting look-back at the 2012 session of the Connecticut state legislature, there is the data visualization designed by Readily Apparent, a Connecticut-based company founded by Brendan Hanrahan and David Smith as a means of visually conveying insights that can be gained with the use of relational data designs and dynamic graphics. Their areas of focus include Data Visualization - compelling visuals, tables, animations to reveal the meaning of information – as well as data design and management, legislative tracking and analysis and opposition research for candidates.

Their clickable tree-map gives a “30,000-foot view” of activity by policy area for the 2012 Connecticut General Assembly session--with click-thru drill-downs to related bills and details.  For legislative researchers – not to mention candidates – gathering basic data has never been this easy.  Additional data visualizations are on the company’s website.

Audience for EPSN morning simulcast larger with TV, radio

An Arbitron-ESPN study of the audience of the ESPN RADIO-ESPN2 morning show "Mike and Mike in the Morning" showed most fans listening to the show on radio or watching on TV, but those using both spending "much more time" with the show. Among the study's findings were that the show reached4.7 million weekly in November 2011 through April2012, with radio delivering 2.3 million exclusive weekly listeners, cable adding 1.6 million exclusive viewers, and 800,000 using both radio and TV.  Dual media users were 17% of the audience but responsible for 28% of weekly usage, according to the results of the cross-platform study by ESPN and Arbitron Inc.

The cross-platform study detailed how fans in markets measured by the Arbitron Portable People Meter™(PPM^®) service listened to the ESPN sport talk duo on radio and watched the simulcast on ESPN2 cable television.

Also among the findings:

• Radio remains the quintessential out of home medium. 59 percent of the Persons 6+ average quarter hour audience for radio listens outside of the home.
• Only 5 percent of the average audience delivered by cable TV came from out from home locations.

Young Entrepreneurs Confident Their Businesses Will Thrive; New Competition Starts

Expectations for the U.S. economy declined overall, but there is a significant optimism gap between older entrepreneurs and those between the ages of 18 and 40, according to the third-quarter Kauffman/LegalZoom Startup Confidence Index, compiled by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and LegalZoom.  Specifically,  98 percent of the 18- to 30-year-olds and 83 percent of the 31- to 40-year-olds are confident or very confident that their businesses will realize greater profitability in the next 12 months. Overall, almost 40 percent of startup owners now believe the economy will deteriorate over the next 12 months, an increase from 36 percent in the second-quarter survey and 31 percent in the first-quarter survey. Entrepreneurs who were somewhat confident in future profitability fell from 43 percent in second quarter to 40 percent in the third-quarter survey, and those who lacked confidence in improved profitability edged up from 18 percent to 21 percent.

However, 30 percent of startup owners said they plan to hire additional staff in 2012, a slight decrease from 33 percent in the March survey.  Representatives of Kauffman said that state-by-state breakdowns of the data were not available because the sample size would be too small to be statistically significant.

A week ago, Connecticut headquartered Pitney Bowes Inc. launched the Pitney Bowes Entrepreneurial Competition, an innovation-focused contest targeting startup and entrepreneurial organizations. The Company also announced its participation in the sponsorship program conducted by the Stamford Innovation Center, which provides startup-centric programs to accelerate entrepreneurial efforts.

The Pitney Bowes Entrepreneurial Competition is designed to identify and drive the development of growth businesses that can leverage three of the Company's technology areas: Spectrum(R) Spatial analytics and location intelligence; the secure evidencing platform; and the Connect+(R) web-enabled digital envelope and mail printing system.

Winners of the Entrepreneurial Competition will receive one year free utilization of office space and internet access in Pitney Bowes's world headquarters, located in Stamford, Conn.;  access to the three aforementioned Pitney Bowes technology platforms corresponding to their submission, including Pitney Bowes' technical and business expertise; and an introduction and access to the Stamford Innovation Center, and their mentoring and coaching services.

The Pitney Bowes Entrepreneurial Competition runs through September 7, 2012. Information is available at www.pb.com/competition .

More Young Adults Living With Parents in Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk Than Anywhere in USA

Battered by the economics of the Great Recession, an increasing number of young adults are taking longer to leave home or are returning to life with mom and dad after having previously moved out.  Those are the findings of a new national study, by the US2010 Project.  In reviewing the 100 largest municipal regions in the nation, the study found that Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk was home to the highest percentage of young people living with parents (34 percent).  The region also had one of the lowest percent married (only 29 percent) and one of the highest percent unemployed (8 percent) among 25-29-year-olds.  Its median income was not among the lowest but the cost of living is relatively high because of its proximity to New York City, the report said.  Also making the top ten in the percentage of young adults living back at their parents home, with similar demographics, were New York, Los Angeles, El Paso, Wilkes Barre/Scranton and Miami.

The examination of the 10 metropolitan areas with the highest percentage living with parents revealed several common factors:  high unemployment rates, low marriage rates, low median income and more young adults with a high school education or less and fewer with a college education or more, and a larger share who are either Latino or Asian.

Nationally, the number of young adults ages 20 to 34 who lived with their parents jumped from 17 percent in 1980 to 24percent in 2007-09, the period of the study (and the Great Recession).  As reported in USA Today, the study found that the rise was sharpest among those under 25 – a new high of 43 percent vs. 32 percent in 1980.  The only segment not affected:  young adults with graduate degrees.

The report noted that delays in marriage were a contributing factor in the findings, but the economic impact of the recession was the central driving force behind the numbers.

Fewer New Voters Than in 2008; Young Voters Lead Way

Secretary of the State Denise Merrill has reported that 45,191 new voters have registered to vote in Connecticut since the beginning of 2012, bringing the total number of Connecticut registered voters to 1,962,905, just a month before statewide and local primaries.   The number of newly registered voters this year trails 2008 figures at the same time;  in 2008 more than 100,000 new voters had registered.  Similar to 2008, however, young voters are the largest group of new voters to register so far in 2012 with 18,952 voters between the ages of 18-29 registering in the last seven months. There is one month to register with either the Democratic or Republican party if individuals wish to vote in the upcoming statewide primary on Aug. 14, when there will be at least 24 primaries for federal and state elections. Primaries will be held for Republican and Democratic voters for the offices of United States Senator, Congress, General Assembly, Registrar of Voters and Probate Judge.

According to the Secretary of the State’s Office, there are 720,161 registered Democrats, 411,062 Republicans, and 817,432 registered as unaffiliated. Among the 45,191 newly registered voters since Jan. 1, 13,851 registered as Democrats, 9,256 registered as Republicans and 21,091, registered as unaffiliated.

CT Ranks #12 in USA in Foreign Born Residents

California, at 27.2 percent, New York, at 22.2 percent, and New Jersey, at 21 percent, are the only states with more than 20 percent of their residents having been born in foreign nations.  According to data from the Pew Hispanic Center 2010 American Community Survey, rounding out the top 10 states in percentage of foreign born citizens is Nevada (18.8 percent), Hawaii (17.9 percent), Texas (16.4 percent), Massachusetts (14.9 percent), Maryland (13.9 percent) Illinois (13.7 percent), and Arizona (13.4 percent).  Connecticut comes in at #12 with 13.2 percent of its residents being foreign-born, just behind Washington State’s 13.3 percent and tied with the District of Columbia.

The Migration Policy Institute notes that the largest share of the foreign-born population in Connecticut were from Latin America.  Of the total foreign-born population in Connecticut in 2010, 3.6 percent were from Africa, 22.0 percent from Asia, 28.5 percent from Europe, 42.1 percent from Latin America (South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean), 3.4 percent from Northern America (Canada, Bermuda, Greenland, and St. Pierre and Miquelon).  The top three countries of birth of the foreign born in Connecticut were Poland, Jamaica, and India.

The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, DC dedicated to analysis of the movement of people worldwide.

Diversity Takes Root in West Hartford

The town of West Hartford, led by the Blue Back Square development, has become a prime go-to destination in the region.  Increasingly, out-of-town guests at conventions centered in Hartford are including West Hartford Center and the adjacent Blue Back Square on their itineraries.  But there's more to the town than its hip and attractive restaurant/shopping district.  And some of the numbers may be surprising to those who continue to view the town as '60's - or even '80's - suburbia. A brief glance at a demographic tool developed by three prominent universities, at http://mixedmetro.us/, clearly reflects the changing demographics of the town and the region over the past two decades.

As pointed out in the new edition of West Hartford LIFE, the "changing face of West Hartford" has paralleled progress and change in other areas:

• Population:  63, 628
• Breakdown:  20.4% white, 9.8% Hispanic/Latino, 7.4% Asian, Black 6.3%
• Residents over age 65: 17%     Residents under age 18:  23%
• Minority population in schools:  37.7% [all-time high]
• Percentage of population (over age 5) that speaks a language other than English at home:  25%
• Number of languages spoken in West Hartford schools:  65

In 67 Towns, Fewer than Half of 4th Graders Pass All Physical Fitness Tests

What do the towns of Thompson, Preston, Windsor Locks and Chester, have in common?  Less than 20 percent of fourth grade students in those communities meet the standard on all four physical fitness tests – the lowest percentages in the state.  On the upper end of the spectrum, 100% of fourth grade students in only two towns - Union and Caanan - pass all four physical fitness tests, as do more than 80 percent of fourth graders in Cornwall, New Canaan and Sterling. Overall, in only 23 communities did more than two-thirds the fourth grade students pass all four physical fitness tests, and in another 76 communities more than half (but less than two-thirds) of the students did so.  In  67 communities, fewer than half of the fourth graders pass all four tests.  The data, from 2010,  was not available from 3 of Connecticut's 169 towns and cities.

In 2009, only 29 cities and towns had more than half of their 4th graders pass all four physical fitness tests.  In 2010 that number jumped to 99 towns.

The data is available on the web site of the Connecticut Data Collaborative, which is bringing together data from various state agencies, making it more readily available to the public, along with the means to combine data from different agencies and chart the information in data visualization charts that help to illustrate patterns that enhance understanding.

The Connecticut Data Collaborative is a collaborative public-private effort to improve the quality of and access to policy-related data in the state - a central portal where all Connecticut organizations and residents can access a wide range of data from federal, state, local and private sources relating to the health, well-being and economy of the residents of the State of Connecticut. The goals of the Collaborative include:

• Advocacy - Advocating for the public availability of all state data to inform public debate and to drive planning, policy, budgeting and decision making in state government.
• Standards - Promoting and modeling use of data standards around privacy, interoperability, data definitions and quality.
• Access - Meeting demands for public access to data through the Collaborative's data portal, CTData.org, and the associated Connecticut Nonprofit Strategy Platform.
• Building Capacity -- Creating opportunities for Collaborative and peer support in data development and use both online and in person.

On the issue of physical fitness in the schools, Tennessee and Connecticut are the first states in the country to respond to the links between health and exercise, childhood obesity and academic performance with the establishment of School Health Coordinators.  Tennessee's law has brought solid results, and Connecticut's legislature approved a pilot program earlier this year.

Diversity on State Boards and Commissions Improves

The Biennial Report on the Gender and Racial Composition of Connecticut State Boards and Commissions, released this week, shows increases in the representation of women, African Americans and Hispanics.  However, disparities continue to exist between representation on boards and commissions and the percentage of population in the state.  Secretary of the State Denise Merrill says the continuing disparities demonstrate that more work needs to be done.   Among the findings:

• Women: 40.1 percent of the appointed membership on boards and commissions, up 1.6 percentage points from 2009. 2011 Census figures show 51.3 percent of the state's population is female.
• There was a 10 % decrease in the number of Boards and Commissions indicating they had no women members.  That percentage now stands at 13.7.
• African Americans: 9.5 percent, up from 8.1 percent in 2009. Percentage of state population: 9.4 percent.

• Hispanic people: 3.7 percent, up from 2.8% in 2009. Percentage of state population: 13.4 percent.

Shifting Religious Landscape in Connecticut

So much for that old-time religion.  Declining enrollment in Catholic schools is only part of the bigger religion trend in Connecticut, as is reported in the 2010 U.S. Religious Congregations & Membership Study, an update of a 50-year-old national census released Tuesday by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.  Hartford Courant columnist Susan Campbell describes  it asthe most detailed report of its kind, with county-level information on 236 religious groups from Amish to Congregationalists, Hindus to Methodists. In Connecticut, the report paints a radically changing religious landscape where evangelical Protestant groups are growing, while more mainline groups such as Roman Catholic and United Church of Christ churches are losing adherents. In Connecticut, the report said Catholics saw an 8.7 percent drop in membership since 2000, and the loss of 12 congregations, while in the same period, United Church of Christ membership dropped 22.7 percent, with a loss of 11 congregations.