To be a leading democracy in the information age means producing objective, independent, scientifically grounded, and widely shared quality information on where we are and where we are going, on both an absolute and relative basis, including comparisons to other nations.

David Walker, President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation / Former Comptroller General of the United States

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What is the State of the USA (SUSA)?

The State of the USA, Inc. (SUSA) is a new nonprofit organization that will assemble high-quality measures and data that can be used to assess the  progress of the United States; it will display those measures—as a public service—on its website.  SUSA will serve nongovernmental organizations, the media, policy makers, business leaders, foundations, scientists, educators and citizens by providing valuable information so all Americans can educate themselves about the progress of the United States.

With advice from the National Academies, SUSA is assembling a set of key national indicators to measure specific conditions or trends in this country.  Data will be drawn from this country’s most respected public and private statistical sources (e.g., the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis) and will help the public track the nation’s progress on a wide variety of issues at many demographic and geographic levels, to the extent such data are available.

SUSA's website will be easy-to-use and continually updated, so that people can find credible, relevant data in minutes or hours.  By providing easily understood information about this nation’s progress, SUSA will offer the public a new ability to assess where the nation is moving forward and where it is stalled.

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When will the SUSA website be available?

The target date to launch the first public version of the website is 2009.

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What is the governing structure of SUSA?

SUSA is a newly formed nonprofit corporation (501(c) (3)) based in Washington, D.C.  It was founded in 2007, with an educational mission to provide the American public with high-quality information—including quantitative measures—of changing societal, economic and environmental conditions.

The organization's distinguished founding Board of Directors includes national leaders from the scientific and statistical community, with broad experience in business, academia and the nongovernmental sector. SUSA will also have scientific and technical support from the planned Roundtable on Key National Indicators at the National Academies. 

In addition, SUSA has established two advisory groups:

The Product Advisory Group focuses on recruiting world-class executive talent for the organization, and advising those executives and SUSA officers as full-time leaders come on board.  The group is composed of a variety of experts and leaders on content design, web and data publishing, statistics, information and technology architecture, human computer interaction and best practices for indicator systems.

The National Advisory Group guides the leadership of SUSA in framing its most complex decisions, including issues that range from organizational design to fundraising and quality assurance of the information and data that will be displayed on SUSA’s website. It includes leaders from the business, nonprofit and academic sectors, plus several observers from federal agencies.

Its positioning in the nonprofit sector is crucial to SUSA’s goal of displaying public and private data, as well as its need to build a broad-based constituency and a high degree of trust and independence.  The nonprofit designation also allows SUSA to solicit public and private funding.  It also plans to seek a constructive partnership with the U.S. Congress that will allow for public oversight, involvement and financial assistance.

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Who funds SUSA?

SUSA is currently receiving financial support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the F.B. Heron Foundation.

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Where will SUSA get its information?

Official federal statistical systems will be the initial sources of indicator data for SUSA’s website.  Eventually, information from nongovernmental and commercial sources will be added. The website will include notes about the sources, reliability and appropriate uses of the data.  In addition, because the international context for an American system of key national indicators is essential, SUSA will offer links to data from indicator systems in other countries.  Assessing conditions in the United States based on comparable information from other nations, as well as global data, will enhance SUSA’s overall value. 

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What is an indicator?

An indicator is a statistical measure that, tracked over time, provides information on societal conditions or trends (for example, changes in poverty rates, air and water quality, high-school completion rates and the trade deficit or surplus). Typically, an indicator will have significance beyond the specific item being measured. Hundreds of working indicator systems already exist at all levels in the United States and abroad, including neighborhoods, communities, cities, regions, states and nations. SUSA is the first national indicator system that will allow Americans to assess their country as a whole. 

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How will the topics and indicators on the website be determined?

SUSA will develop its set of topics and key national indicators through rigorous and open review.  This process will include broad and deep input from hundreds of stakeholders—from  business, the private sector, education, government, nonprofit groups, advocacy groups and the general public—as well as from experts in data collection, management and dissemination.  The process for selecting indicators and topics is evolving and will include input from potential audiences as well as the scientific and statistical communities and representatives of diverse constituencies.

These groups, supported by independent research and surveys, will suggest a comprehensive set of issues that reflect the most significant economic, social and environmental conditions bearing on the progress of the country, both on an absolute basis and compared to other nations. Sets of candidate indicators and data sets will then be prioritized by multi-sector technical and editorial committees of subject-matter experts so that a manageable number of key national indicators can be proposed.  Finally, editorial committees will work together to agree on ways to present the measures in ways that are both understandable and usable, but also responsibly communicate any issues surrounding the relative quality of the data.

After an initial set of topics, indicators and data sets are selected through its participatory process, SUSA will continue to update and re-evaluate the issues, indicators, data sets, explanations and usability of its website through extensive consultation with diverse audience groups and substantive experts.

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Who is the audience for SUSA?

Website audiences will include the general public, policy makers, civic leaders, foundations and nonprofit organizations, as well as federal, state, local, county and regional agencies.  For example, the media constantly seek new and better information and tools to improve the depth and breadth of reporting on complex issues. Businesses are looking for better insight into broad societal patterns and trends for planning and investment decisions. In addition,  teachers and educators at all levels—high school, college and graduate schools—as well as their students, are searching for new ways to generate broader insight and understanding about the country and its place in the world.  Audiences abroad will also benefit from a strong U.S. indicator system to inform their own decisions and to shed light on the workings of American society.

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How is SUSA different from other information providers?

SUSA will seek to address the void between an online search and professional-quality research.  Search engines offer rapid access to relevant sources, but cannot yet guide users effectively past the first results.  First-class research can produce high-quality answers to sophisticated questions, but it can take weeks, months or years to complete.  SUSA will provide users of its website with the best available facts about vital questions in minutes to hours—and at no cost.

SUSA will focus on providing the public with reliable, objective data and will seek to support, rather than compete with, existing information providers. Its key national indicators will address relevant issues, but not set goals.  It will assemble information, not collect it.  It will display data, but not interpret them. And it will concentrate on quantitative information, with enough qualitative explanation and context that will make the data easy to use and understand.

Users of SUSA’s website will easily and quickly be able to disaggregate national information to state, regional and local levels—where the data exist.  They will be able to make comparisons along a variety of dimensions, including time, race, gender, income and other demographic categories. SUSA will also reveal data gaps:  areas where there are questions, but no agreed-upon methods of measurement; or areas where there are agreed-upon measures, but where data are incomplete or nonexistent.

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What impact is SUSA likely to have on our society? 

The democratic system in the United States depends on civic involvement—on Americans setting national priorities directly by the selection of their elected representatives and indirectly through their market choices.  SUSA will facilitate more meaningful participation in these processes by providing the public with reliable, objective and accessible information about their regions, their states, their nation and other nations.

The data provided by SUSA will also help to ensure that decision makers at all levels are responsive, accountable and effective.  And by providing information about changing conditions in the United States over time, SUSA will be an important tool for evaluating the impact of specific policies, thus reinforcing greater accountability for both public officials and leaders in other sectors of society.

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How will SUSA ensure independence, transparency and accountability?

SUSA will develop its set of key national indicators through rigorous and open review.  This process will include broad and deep input from hundreds of stakeholders—from  business, the private sector, education, government, nonprofit groups , advocacy groups and the general public —as well as from experts in data collection, management and dissemination.  The institutional foundation for the effort will be independent, yet responsive, so the information on SUSA’s website will be objective and insulated from political pressures. Thus, SUSA will develop trust among its users—even for information related to controversial topics.

Simple and informative documentation about the data that support the indicators will be readily available to all users.  This information will include the sources of the data, details relating to how the data were collected and how data collectors have defined key concepts, as well as any known limitations of their data. 

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How can I find out more about SUSA?

SUSA welcomes questions and comments to help improve the quality of our information and our institution. Please send e-mail to feedback@stateoftheusa.org.

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