Bloomington has always been a community that cares.

For decades, our faith community, nonprofits, educators and local government have worked tirelessly to help those in need. We've hosted overnight shelters in church basements, offered counseling and medical help, and tackled policy issues like affordable housing and wage growth. However, recent challenges have demanded an even greater community response.

Like many cities around the nation, Bloomington has experienced the effects of the Great Recession, the opioid crisis, and homelessness. The CIty's Safety, Civility, and Justice (SCJ) Task Force was announced on August 11, 2016 in response to public concerns about aggressive panhandling and public safety in downtown Bloomington. This group, comprised of social service providers, downtown business owners, law enforcement, and members of the public, was tasked to form policy recommendations to address these issues in an inclusive and community-focused way. These issues do not exist in a vacuum. They have complex intersections that often defy easy categorization. That is why the SCJ Task Force recommended that the City of Bloomington pursue a metrics- and data-driven approach to these issues.

The Safety, Civility, and Justice Metrics team identified seven areas for measurement: Parks, Kirkwood Corridor/Downtown, Neighborhoods, Court System/First Responders, Social Services, City Funding/Economic Index, and Community Health. This website gathers data from an array of City of Bloomington departments, social service providers, nonprofits, medical centers, and economic vitality indicators in an effort to set baselines for each criterion and help improve our community's understanding of the aforementioned challenge.

Although we've made progress, this challenge will require a sustained, steady, community-wide effort. We'll update this site as we progress and gather feedback from the community. Our goal is to make our community as safe, civil, and just as possible.