Subscriber-Level Solution: Because this part of the example deals with community-level custom maps, the CVI user must first become an MCIC subscriber. Click Subscribe on the left hand side of the page and then click the Become a Subscriber bar. Fill in your information and click the Submit button at the bottom of the page. There is no charge to become an MCIC subscriber.

Begin by using Custom Maps/Reports to select the Chicago community area that contains the largest part of the area described in the newspaper article Douglas. Use the Add and Deselect buttons at the top of the map to add and subtract census tracts to match the area described in the article. Next, add school locations to your map by selecting Public Schools from the list of geographic layers to the right of the map, and then click the red Refresh Map button, on the bottom right of the map.

The overall CVI map and three component maps for Social Capital, Economic Potential, and Community Amenities, paired with the corresponding Score Cards that include benchmark scores for the City of Chicago, Suburban Cook, and five collar counties highlight areas of potential, by census tract, for the South State Street Corridor. Since the scores are percentile scores, it is useful to consider them in quartiles.

Though most of the tracts rank in the lower half of the region (CVI scores below 50), there are five tracts with scores from 51-75 (see scorecard below). Which of the three components is driving the higher CVI score? There are two tracts in this custom area with Economic Potential scores above 50. What is unique about those tracts? Note the seven tracts with Community Amenity scores in the top quartile of the region (score above 75). Why dont any of these tracts overlap the high economic potential score tracts? What do these patterns suggest?

The purpose of CVI is to encourage new ways to understand the communities in which we live and work. The scoring system invites us to ask and answer the kinds of questions that will result in a clearer understanding of the purpose we are pursuing, and the people we hope will benefit from our efforts. Returning to the effect of school upgrades on the planned youth programs example, we might also ask: Which schools are in areas of higher economic potential? Areas with higher scores for social capital? What youth services might be appropriate in these areas?

How will the proposed school upgrade efforts impact the youth programming resources in the area? Can that enhance your proposed program? What other questions do the CVI scores raise about untapped or unrecognized potential within the area?

MCIC Member Solution: As an MCIC member, after going through the above procedures, you can also ask MCIC for expanded data tables for a targeted area. These expanded tables, available exclusively to MCIC members, include scores for each of the indicators in each of the sub-indices that make up the three components of CVI.

Using the expanded Economic Potential data tables, the neighborhood organization can assess aggregate income per square mile, shelter cost burden, home ownership rates, educational attainment, and number of wage earners per square mile to document the economic status of the existing population, and to determine the viability of a fee structure. Using expanded tables for Community Amenities, the neighborhood organization can determine what kinds of community institutions like libraries and houses of worship are in the area, as well as the number of health and human service providers within a 3-mile radius. This helps assess the overall market, potential competitors, and other stakeholders within the community who might make good strategic partners for developing the new youth program.