How Safe is Pennsylvania? (Plenary Session)
Gerald Mcateer, Pennsylvania Emergency
Management Agency (PEMA)

Mr. Mcateer will discuss how the Pennsylvania Emergency Incident Reporting System (PEIRS) and Initial Damage Reporter (IDR) impact disaster management, from the collection and storage of near real time information to the data exchange between legacy incident management systems and newly developed emergency notification and alerting systems. He will also discuss how these tools assist local government, state executive staff, and the emergency community in their efforts to adequately respond to, recover from, and mitigate a disaster.

Transitioning to the American Community Survey:
Geographies, Sampling, and Other Issues
Pamela Klein and Maria Olmedo, U.S. Census Bureau

The survey design, operations, and data products of the ACS differ from the long form survey that has been conducted as part of each decennial census of population and housing since 1940.  This session is intended to present information that will help data users achieve a smooth transition to using ACS data as a replacement for data from the decennial census long form.

Pennsylvania Homeland Security/
Public Safety Geospatial Portal Applications
Jim Knudson and Stacey White , Governor's Office, Office of Information Technology

The Governor's Office of Administration, Office for Information Technology houses the Environmental Community of Practice (EnviroCoP) and the Geospatial Technologies Office (GTO).  Jim Knudson and Stacey White will discuss and demonstrate the Geospatial Analysis of Threats and Incident Reports (GATIR) geospatial portal application developed using Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant funding, which supports PEMA operations and situational awareness.  The initial GATIR application was launched in January 2006, and continues to be refined and enhanced to make it more user friendly and add new functionality.  A review of the GTO's Public Safety vision and current/future projects will be provided.

Pennsylvania Highways and Roads
Bill Crawford and Doug Tomlinson , Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

A discussion of how PennDOT uses data to manage highways. This will including aspects such as the Department's highway safety program, road closure reporting, traffic management centers, and data links to other agencies.

Pennsylvania Quality of Life Study: Public Concerns about Preparedness
Dr. Alice Hausman, Temple University

This session will present on the use of population-based surveys to assess the current status of citizen preparedness, determine potential barriers or facilitators for positive responses during times of emergency, and identify factors relevant to targeting messages and response strategies to different segments of the population. Data on public perceptions, preparedness activities, and concerns about disasters derived from a series of state-wide and metropolitan Philadelphia area surveys will be presented and methodological issues will be discussed.

Are you ready for the 2010 Census? Get your community involved
Greg Brivic and Phil Lutz, U.S. Census Bureau

Learn how your agency and governments can partner with the U.S. Census Bureau as it prepares for the 2010 Census. Whether it’s reviewing map and address information, updating political boundaries or even reviewing and delineating statistical geography, the Census Bureau would like to partner with you to help achieve the best possible Census of Population and Housing. This session will discuss these programs and how you can get involved. It will also discuss significant changes to Census operations, from the use of GPS technology to the advent of the American Community Survey and its relationship to the Decennial Census. Join us to find out what you can do for your community!

Immigration to Rural and Small Town America
Dr. Leif Jensen, The Pennsylvania State University

While the vast majority of recent immigrants reside in U.S. cities, the foreign-born population is deconcentrating. Many small cities, towns and rural areas in Pennsylvania and around the country are experiencing an influx of recent immigrants. Drawn by economic opportunities in the agriculture and food processing, manufacturing, tourism, and other industrial sectors these recent arrivals represent a new challenge and potential opportunity for otherwise struggling locales. Jensen describes this new trend in some detail including who the new immigrants to rural and small town America are, where they're going and why, what impact they're having, and what the policy implications are.
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School Violence Data
Michael Kozup, Pennsylvania Department of Education

This session will describe the online Safe School Reporting System which the Department of Education utilizes to obtain data from local educational agencies in the following areas: violence incidents, weapons possession incidents, truancy rates, out of school , suspensions, school police/school resource officer/security staff training data, expulsion data.

Public Health Preparedness
Meghan Treber, Pennsylvania Department of Health

Ms. Treber will present on the current status of public health preparedness in the country and in the Commonwealth and ways data systems are supporting public health preparedness.

Networks and Resiliency (Keynote Speaker)
Dr. Sam Stebbins, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Stebbins will describe and discuss how information and data can be utilized to help mitigate and improve respond to an on-going disaster or outbreak, with the ultimate result of improving safety and saving lives. He is Director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Public Health Preparedness (UPCPHP). UPCPHP trains public health and related professionals to respond to bioterrorism, infectious disease outbreaks, and other public health threats and emergencies. Their portal provides frontline public health and health care workers with access to national and local preparedness and response information and public health competency-based training resources.

Economic and Workforce Development Data
Dennis Pickeral, PaSDC

Using the American Community Survey for Disaster Management
Pamela Klein and Maria Olmedo, U.S. Census Bureau

Data from the American Community Survey can be used to guide the development of written materials for racially, culturally, and economically diverse communities.  The American Community Survey data tools also can be used to identify a community's work to home traffic patterns, and daytime and night time population. The data also can be used to produce maps that illustrate the locations of highways, hospitals, schools, and businesses that use and produce hazardous materials in relation to the population.

Criminal Justice Data Uses in Addressing Public Safety
Doug Hoffman and Diane Shoop,
Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency

The criminal justice system is broad and generates much administrative data. The depth of data is complemented by data gathered in research or evaluative studies. These data are used in a variety of ways. From a proactive standpoint, data are used to identify trends and potential problems so that appropriate responses may be formulated. On-going programs are evaluated to determine if processes or outcomes are positive and if improvements can be made.

Rail Security and Homeland Security
Dr. Jeremy Plant, Penn State Harrisburg

Rail security has become an increasingly major component of homeland security and antiterrorism thinking and activity, spurred by a continuing series of attacks on rail operations in recent years, including Mumbai, London, and Madrid. Based on ongoing research this presentation outlines the nature of potential threats to rail systems in Pennsylvania, North America, and worldwide; breaks down the rail system into its major component parts (e. g., large Class One freight railroads, regional and short line freight operators, intercity and commuter rail, transit) and notes the particular approaches to security in each segment, and discussed current policy initiatives to enhance rail security. Rail security, it will be argued, is dependent upon the creation and maintenance of an effective public-private network of engaged parties who share risk assessments, information and intelligence, and a common goal of balancing the costs of security with the need to maintain the economic viability of rail systems. Rail security is presented within the general categories of transportation security and infrastructure security. Problems exist now with unclear responsibilities for overall system security for the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation, and a lack of empirical information to accurately forecast risk.

PaSDC Affiliate Roundtable
Sue Copella, PaSDC

This session, for affiliate members of the PaSDC, provides a forum for affiliates to openly discuss issues and topics regarding census data, census release schedules and reporting procedures to the PaSDC. Especially helpful for any new affiliate, or a newly appointed affiliate contact, in becoming acquainted with the affiliate program of the Pennsylvania State Data Center.

Using American Factfinder for Census,
American Community Survey
Dennis Pickeral, PaSDC

An introduction to American Fact Finder, the nation’s leading online tool for obtaining economic and population statistics. Discussion includes census terminology and using American Fact Finder to query Census, American Communtiy Survey, and estimate data. Recent enhancements and new data sets, popular features such as “Geo within geo” geography selection, and Custom Tables will also be covered.

Hate Crimes/Discrimination
Raymond Cartwright and Ann Van Dyke,
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission

In their session, Mr. Cartwright and Ms. Van Dyke will explain the process used to develop resources for the capture of data related to “hate crimes” and “tension incidents” occurring in PA. They will also explain the data acquired and emphasize the importance of data gathering being merged with demographics in order to anticipate and address hate crimes, as well as our ability to learn from the historical data. Of recent interest is the "diversity" in recruitment by groups such as Al Qaida of other antigovernment groups.

The Food Supply
Bobby McLean, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

Mr. McLean will discuss how data can be used to as an early warning system in the case of a foodborne disease outbreak and what the Department of Agriculture is doing to make data collection possible.