Government agencies collect a significant amount of administrative data while administering programs focused on housing, the social safety net, criminal justice, education, employment, and other programs. This data has the potential to inform solutions to complex problems like poverty, but legal and technical barriers often stand in the way. Working closely with our state and local government agency partners, the California Policy Lab is overcoming these barriers to enable a more data-informed approach to policymaking. In addition to our own research, several of CPL’s initiatives make data more accessible to other researchers. This can be complex, when the data themselves are sensitive or granular, so CPL is committed to data stewardship practices that focus on maintaining privacy. Please reach out to datapage@capolicylab.org with questions or suggestions.
Linking government data between different agencies and departments is a powerful strategy to solve challenging public policy research problems. For example, data linkages can provide insights into utilization of multiple government services to help agencies respond better, or connect families to benefits they may not have known they were eligible for. However, for researchers, finding ways to link data directly between two or more departments can be very challenging. These resources show how to do it.