History of the MSDC

Overview

The Multi-State Data Collaborative (MSDC) was developed through a series of convenings of state policy, program, and data leaders who had an interest in developing a means for states to work together to address shared problems of policy and practice through data.

This series of convenings and working projects led to the development of three regional collaboratives: the Midwest Collaborative (MWC), the Southern Regional Data Collaborative (SRDC), and the Eastern States Longitudinal Data Collaborative (ESLDC). The three regional collaboratives have now joined to comprise one MSDC that includes member states from across the nation. States have the power to choose to work together on region-based and topic-based projects as these project needs are identified and approved by the MSDC.

Below is a brief description of the progress made by the three regional collaboratives. The states are continuing much of this work under the current MSDC.

Midwest Collaborative (MWC)

The Midwest Collaborative (MWC) was formed in 2018 as a group of state agencies and research institutions interested in new data approaches to understand workers’ and learners’ labor market transitions and measure the labor market outcomes of education, work opportunities, and public interventions. The MWC developed two of the signature products of the Multi-State Data Collaborative network, the Unemployment to Reemployment Portal and the Multi-State Post-Secondary Report.

The MWC pioneered the formal governance model now adopted by the MSDC and piloted an RFI process to foster partnerships with post-secondary and non-profit partners who can help advance state agencies’ capacity to produce a pipeline of data products that impact public policies, programs, or strategies (see Projects and Products tab.)

The MWC identified the following priority areas:

• Identifying strategies to address “learning decay” after staff return to agencies following Applied Data Analytics training courses,
• Building a collaborative knowledge base around data documentation, and
• Expanding engagement to additional sectors, including human services (e.g., Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), K-12 education, and health (e.g., social determinants of health).