The Coleridge Initiative builds public agency capacity to accelerate the effective use of new datasets. It enables multiple local, state, and federal agencies to keep data in separate FedRAMP secure areas in the Administrative Data Research Facility, linking it for projects as needed. In addition to receiving the 2018 Government Innovation Award, ADRF was also cited as the first Federal example of Secure Access to Confidential Data in the final report of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking.
The Coleridge Initiative’s success relies on two factors: 1) building a low-cost, open-source platform that encourages and facilitates data discovery through rich documentation in the ADRF, and 2) increasing agency capacity to use this platform and execute complex analyses through Applied Data Analytics training. Once scaled, the project is expected to not only expand public agency demand for data-informed and cross-sector decision making, but to create sector-wide efficiencies by making it easier to access and analyze cross-sector data in the first place.
Overdeck Family Foundation funding supports the scaling of Coleridge Initiative’s training program, which increases public agency capacity to apply modern analytics skills to real world micro-data. As an early funder of the Coleridge Initiative’s work, we are proud to support this project alongside the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Schmidt Sciences, Schmidt Futures, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, among others.