About
mySidewalk is a community data platform designed to eliminate the friction of working with local data. Instead of hunting through spreadsheets, juggling disconnected tools, and chasing partners for updated figures, users get a single environment where data is unified, visualized, and published—all in one place. The platform serves state and local government agencies, city councils, nonprofits, community foundations, and neighborhood organizations. It supports a wide range of mission areas including population health, community development, economic growth, housing security, environmental resilience, and public safety. Key capabilities include a curated library of ready-to-use datasets, interactive mapping and charting tools, and collaborative publication features that help teams share findings and inform data-driven decisions. The newly introduced Smart Upload feature makes it easy to bring in external data. An AI Sidekick assistant helps users quickly surface insights and answers from their data. mySidewalk also provides pre-built templates for common community assessments such as Community Health Assessments (CHA), CHIP plans, and funding applications, reducing setup time significantly. Teams can build a shared source of truth, ensuring everyone across departments and partner organizations is working from consistent, up-to-date data. The platform is ideal for public health departments, city planners, housing authorities, and nonprofit program managers who need to present compelling, data-backed stories to stakeholders, funders, and the public.
Key Features
- Unified Data Platform: Consolidates ready-to-use community datasets alongside your own data uploads into a single, consistent source of truth for your organization.
- Interactive Mapping & Visualization: Create dynamic maps, charts, and data stories that make complex community data accessible and compelling for any audience.
- Built-in Publication & Collaboration: Share reports, dashboards, and data-driven plans directly from the platform to inform stakeholders and support data-driven decision-making.
- AI Sidekick: An AI-powered assistant that helps users quickly find answers, surface insights, and navigate their data without advanced technical skills.
- Mission-Specific Templates: Pre-built templates for community health assessments, housing plans, economic development reports, and more to accelerate common workflows.
Use Cases
- A public health department uses mySidewalk to conduct a Community Health Assessment (CHA), combining local health data with national datasets to identify priority health needs and publish a CHIP plan for stakeholders.
- A city planning office unifies housing, income, and demographic data to visualize affordability gaps and share interactive maps with the city council to support affordable housing policy decisions.
- A regional nonprofit uses the platform to build a shared data dashboard with partner organizations, ensuring all community stakeholders are working from the same figures when applying for federal grants.
- An economic development agency tracks workforce indicators, education outcomes, and employment data in one place, then publishes dynamic reports to attract business investment and communicate progress to elected officials.
- A neighborhood association uses pre-built templates and the AI Sidekick to quickly generate data-driven presentations on transportation safety and environmental resilience for community town halls.
Pros
- All-in-One Workflow: Eliminates the need to juggle multiple tools by combining data access, visualization, and publishing in a single platform.
- Purpose-Built for Community Work: Designed specifically for local government and nonprofit use cases with domain-specific templates and curated datasets.
- Enables Organization-Wide Data Culture: Provides a shared source of truth so all departments and partners are working from the same consistent data, reducing miscommunication.
- No Advanced Technical Skills Required: No-code interface and AI assistance make it accessible to program managers and policy staff without data engineering backgrounds.
Cons
- Niche Audience: Primarily designed for government agencies and nonprofits, making it less suitable for private-sector businesses or general-purpose analytics.
- Opaque Pricing: Pricing is not publicly listed on the website, requiring prospective users to contact sales to understand costs.
- Limited Self-Serve Discovery: New users may need onboarding support to fully leverage the platform's breadth of features and templates.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is mySidewalk designed for?
mySidewalk is built for state and local government agencies, city councils, policymakers, nonprofits, community foundations, and neighborhood organizations that need to work with community data.
What types of data can I use in mySidewalk?
The platform provides access to a library of ready-to-use community datasets and also supports bringing in your own data via Smart Upload, allowing you to combine internal and external data sources.
Does mySidewalk require coding skills?
No. mySidewalk is designed with a no-code interface and includes an AI Sidekick to help non-technical users explore data, build visualizations, and publish reports without programming knowledge.
What mission areas does mySidewalk support?
The platform supports public health, community development, economic growth, housing security, environmental resilience, and public safety—with pre-built templates for many common use cases in each area.
How does mySidewalk help with funding applications?
mySidewalk provides pre-built templates and publication tools that make it easy to compile data-backed reports and visualizations, which can be directly used in grant applications and funding proposals.
