The Linked Information Network of Colorado (LINC) is a state collaborative that supports timely and cost-efficient research, evaluation, and analytics using integrated data across state agencies. LINC is designed to securely share data to a centralized linking hub in state government to produce anonymized datasets for approved end users. LINC development is partially supported by seed funds and staff commitment from the Colorado Lab. Read the Data Initiative Description here.
The Colorado Lab partnered with the Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) to co-design LINC with state agencies. At present, LINC partners include:
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF)
Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE)
Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS)
Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE)
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)
The LINC model is consistent with the Build Once, Use Often philosophy and is responsive to pain points of siloed information. It integrates data across agencies for business analytics and research with a commitment to all data being anonymized for end users and privacy ensured.
LINC is supported by data scientist John Hokkanen at the Governor’s Office of Information Technology.
For more information on LINC, please contact the Lab’s Director of Data Integration & Analytics and Acting LINC Director, Whitney LeBoeuf (whitney@coloradolab.org).
LINC Related News
Building a Sustainable and Replicable Approach to Estimate Youth Homelessness with LINC
The goal of this project is to inform policies and practices aimed at preventing youth homelessness. It builds on a pilot project, “Characteristics of Former Foster Youth Receiving Homeless Services” by expanding innovative administrative data linkages to more systems that serve youth experiencing homelessness.
Office of the Respondent Parents’ Counsel: Using Rigorous Evaluations to Inform Strategic Planning
The Colorado Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel (ORPC) provides legal advocacy services to indigent parents involved in child welfare proceedings. The project is evaluating the effectiveness of interdisciplinary teams. This project is also building the internal capacity of ORPC to routinely evaluate the effectiveness of representation models and use evaluation findings to inform strategic planning.
Governor’s Budget Seeks Boost to Wages for ECE Workforce
The Colorado Lab is dedicated to creating actionable research. A recent effort to create a snapshot of the Early Childhood Education (ECE) workforce, funded by the Piton Foundation and the Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation, was no exception. The Snapshot Report demonstrated that “high turnover in the field exacerbates the workforce shortage and hinders childcare quality,” and pointed to low pay as a contributing factor.
Critical Data Ensures Child Care for Essential Workers
In the early days of the pandemic, many child care centers and other educational institutions temporarily shut down, while essential workers, particularly in the health care industry, desperately needed care for their own children. Countless early childhood educators lost their jobs in the closures, yet centers that remained open to care for the children of essential workers faced significant staff shortages. But how to fill these diverse and dispersed needs, especially during a public health crisis?
Characteristics of Former Foster Youth Receiving Homelessness Services
Preventing homelessness of youth formerly in foster care begins with understanding characteristics of those most at risk. This project connects child welfare to homeless services data in the Denver metro area to inform policies and practices aimed at ensuring youth aging out of foster care have stable housing.
Prenatal Substance Use and Improving Family Health
Families affected by substance use during a pregnancy are at risk for infant and maternal mortality, significant health consequences, and threats to well-being of the family as a whole. This data linkage study improves our ability to monitor current trends by establishing a comprehensive set of definitions for prenatal substance use for affected mothers and infants in Colorado.