The American Communities Project provides information to scholars and the public about trends that affect neighborhoods, cities, and regions around the country. Initially it focuses on data about the population (from the U.S. Census) and about public schools (from other specialized sources). Our intention is to update this information continually and to expand it to other aspects of communities, including public health, crime, elections, economic conditions, and the physical environment - all areas in which Brown University faculty have special expertise.

To emphasize our interest in how these conditions are spatially organized, this project is developing web-based GIS mapping systems that allow users to build and analyze maps via the internet. Two prototypes are available now. MapNY provides population data from Census 2000 for census tracts, towns and cities, and counties throughout New York State. MapNYSchools provides information about school districts in New York, including racial and class composition of students and student achievement. Both systems call attention to the concentrations of advantage and disadvantage that are typical of American communities. Soon we expect to extend these prototypes to cover the whole United States.

We also provide information through more traditional tables, spreadsheets, and summary reports. The Census 2000 web pages allow users to learn about the conditions for people living in specific cities, metropolitan regions, and states. The Brown at 50 web pages report on trends in school segregation and desegregation policy with data for all public school districts and summary data for metropolitan regions.