In Fall 2003, SAVI began its first major revision since its creation in 1994. These changes, described below, will make SAVI even more useful to decision-making in Central Indiana.

SAVI is a comprehensive web-delivered community information system, providing a wide variety of social and human service information about Central Indiana from nearly 40 data providers. It is one of the largest and most innovative community information systems of its type in the United States.

SAVI is available through public libraries, human service organizations, governmental agencies and it is conveniently available to any user via the Internet (www.savi.org).

Welcome to SAVI Connections, the inaugural issue of this new bi-monthly electronic newsletter regarding the SAVI system! If this message does not look like a web page in your email reader, you can read the latest edition at http://www.savi.org. SAVI Connections provides news about SAVI, demonstrates various ways in which SAVI can benefit your organization, announces release of new data, showcases new tools, highlights a variety of SAVI users, and broadcasts user support and training options. The Polis staff encourages your ideas and feedback. Please address comments to: skandris@iupui.edu.

Last fall, The Polis Center at IUPUI conducted a needs assessment with community leaders, civic organizations, and SAVI users to identify ways SAVI should develop to support decision-making in Central Indiana.

The assessment revealed that SAVI needed to enhance its user tools, make them easier to use, and increase its community outreach and education.

SAVI users will notice a new design to the SAVI website. Over the next year, the website will have several exciting new features, including:

• Quick mapping features
• Community profiles
• Comparison tools
• Trend data tools
• Ability for users to use their own data with SAVI
• Much more!

Tools will be published first on a test site (Beta Site) for user trial and feedback and then will be published on the official SAVI website.

By May, several new tools, including Quick Mapping features, will be available on the Beta Site for user testing. These new tools will enable users to access information quickly in a variety of formats. In June, the new user tools will be available to all users on the SAVI website.

Community Resource Centers in each county will serve as a resource to their community for SAVI information, training, and support.

Watch future issues for more information and announcements about training and support.

Countless organizations in Indianapolis turn to Suzanne Scher for information about their communities—and for good reason. Suzanne became a SAVI user in 1998. A specialized reference librarian at the Central Library branch, she is called upon to assist individuals in not-for-profits who require her expertise for data to justify grant requests. Neighborhood residents seek her support in finding specific profile information, and she meets with college students who need her help understanding data for class projects.

Suzanne regularly incorporates SAVI data into Arc View and prepares tables and maps based on patron requests. She’s asked most often for assistance in mapping median household income, housing, and educational attainment data by census track. She also has used SAVI to perform community assessment data to support various IMCPL service projects. “I think SAVI is a wonderful tool---as they say a picture is worth 1000 words,” says Suzanne, “And it’s a free service of the library.”

• Approximate number of day cares in metropolitan Indianapolis: 1,192
• Number of children age 0-5 years old in metropolitan Indianapolis: 143,624
• Hispanic population in Marion County: 3.9% (Highest township: Center, 5.1%; lowest: Franklin, 1.3%)
• Lowest percentage of population 65 and over among metropolitan counties: Hamilton County, 7.5%; highest: Madison County, 14.9%
• Metropolitan county with the highest median family income in Indianapolis: Hamilton, $80,239; lowest: Madison, $46,663
• Metropolitan county with the highest percentage of high school dropouts in metropolitan Indianapolis: Marion, 14.5%; lowest: Hamilton, 3.9%
• Percent of owner-occupied housing units in metropolitan Indianapolis: 67.8%. County with the highest percentage: Hendricks, 83.0%; lowest: Marion, 59.3%

SAVI is a community information system administered and maintained by The Polis Center at IUPUI. SAVI is supported financially by the following organizations: Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust; Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation, Inc.; Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis, Inc.; Annie E. Casey Foundation; Lilly Endowment, Inc.; United Way of Central Indiana; City of Indianapolis, Department of Metropolitan Development; Marion County Health and Hospital Corporation; Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI).

For more information about SAVI, please visit the website at www.savi.org