Solutions journalism is based on rigorous, evidence-based reporting that demonstrates the effectiveness of responses to difficult social problems.

Finding and quantifying that evidence, however, is one of the most challenging aspects of solutions reporting.

As a longtime believer in the power of data to produce high quality journalistic content, I was pleased to accept the invitation of the New York and Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative (NYMI SoJo), a coalition of news organizations and other partners that report with a solutions lens on caregiving for older adults, to create and oversee a data center for its nearly three dozen news and community partners.

Since embarking on this mission seven months ago, I’ve been able to assemble more than 225 text and data informational resources for the data center, along with contact information for 160 sources. These include, for example, a searchable website from the New York State Department of Health with information about quality of care for nursing homes around the state. Another good example is a directory from the Detroit Area Agency on Aging with contact information and descriptions of services offered by more than 30 agencies that assist older adults and their caregivers. More than 50 additional resources — mostly curated links — are part of a training bank meant to help reporters sharpen their skills.

The data center remains a work in progress, and I am adding more resources regularly with the support of the collaborative participants.

One of the key findings so far from collecting and reviewing resources about caregiving is that the United States is largely unprepared to deal with the volume of people who will need care as they age, and also lacks capacity to deliver many types of care that will be needed. We’ve also learned that when family members take on the task of caring for an older adult who is no longer fully independent (for any number of reasons, but most especially dementia) it changes the caregiver’s life dramatically. This, in turn, creates a need for various kinds of support and assistance.

Read the full article about quantifying solutions by Jack Rosenberry at The Whole Story.