Local Government Case Studies
Doug Foster co-wrote a study (Affordability and the Funding Gap) for NeighborWorks America studying the changes in affordability over 127 market areas, and its impact on low and moderate income (LMI) families.
The study developed its own metrics to evaluate the housing boom’s impact specifically on LMI families. Doug applied his GIS and programming skills to automate a process of running the algorithm on the 127 market areas, ranking and mapping them.
For years, the Village of Nyack had a six page website with minutes and agendas that were years old and not updated. Staff didn’t have the expertise to maintain the site themselves, but there was a need at a minimum to post documents.
The Village, like any local government, has demanding content management requirements, so FSI chose Drupal 6 to manage the groups, staff and documents.
The site is still under development, currently using a modified template while a custom design is underway, but in only a month the site has over a hundred documents that are being updated and maintained by staff.