ResearchEd

For #MondayMotivation, the April National Press Foundation Widening the Pipeline virtual training yielded two powerful pieces of advice for journalists covering the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education: "Never waste a crisis." "We are in a moment. Become a student of this moment." Our exploration of Education department data and research, tracking school spending and how to pitch and produce impactful stories was a real game-changer for #NPFWidening fellows. Many thanks to our speakers: Rachel Rush-Marlowe, founder and executive director of ResearchEd Laura Anderson, associate director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University Aashish (Ash) D., Edunomics Lab data and policy analyst; Delano Massey managing editor at Axios Local Chastity Pratt, national education editor at The Washington Post Local communities need local context about the consequences of federal decisions. NPF helps local journalists illuminate urgent issues in real time.

I’m proud to share the Impact Map — a new interactive platform developed under the Impact Project to help visualize how federal employment, funding, and policy decisions affect our communities. This tool has been in the works for a little over a month. Some of you may remember it as the Fed Cuts Tracker, but as the scope of the project evolved, so did its name and our vision (and the timeline for delivery — thank you for your patience!). The Impact Map is designed to make the impact of complex, fast-moving federal funding, employment, and policy decisions more accessible and understandable at the local level. Whether you're a policymaker, journalist, researcher, or simply someone who cares about how government works and its real-world impact, my hope is that this resource helps bridge the gap between national decisions with respect to employment, funding, and programmatic cuts, and their on-the-ground effects. Access the map at TheImpactProject.org, where you can also access information on how to use it. Key features of the Impact Map include: Event Mapping: Each dot represents an individual event — layoffs, office closures, funding freezes, rehiring — with links to original sources. Hover + Click: Explore data by county, congressional district, or state. State Dashboards: Dive into detailed employment and program data, with more updates coming soon. Filters + Layers: Sort by sector (e.g., infrastructure, public health) and action (e.g., hiring, program cuts), or add overlays like rural counties, tribal lands, and high-poverty areas. The Impact Map remains a work in progress and feedback is welcome via info@theimpactproject.org. Reliable public data can be hard to find —and as a result the Map will continue to be updated as more data becomes available. This project is a step toward making available information more usable and allowing everyone to better understand the impacts of government decisions. Explore the map here: https://lnkd.in/daVuSDQG Learn more about the map here: https://lnkd.in/drY-6aMJ Contribute a story here: https://lnkd.in/dxTmapwy Deep thanks to everyone who has shaped and will continue to shape this work along the way. TheImpactProject.org #GovTech #CivicTech #OpenData #DataVisualization #PolicyImpact #PublicService #FedWorkers #FederalWorkers #FedContractors #FederalContractors #FederalGrants