How to use the Opportunity Map
Base map—the base map used for this project is the State of Connecticut.
Legend— Each census tract is colored from light yellow to dark orange depending on the “opportunity” rating of each census tract. The darker the color, the higher the “opportunity” rating, as calculated by indicators including school math and reading scores, housing vacancy rates, and access to jobs. For each overlay included in the Content section of this page, there is a Legend that explains the symbols used in the overlay.
Content—Selecting the word “Content” gives a choice of overlays. For example, by checking the box next to “Free or Reduced Lunch Rate by School,” the map gives information about schools and the percentage of children receiving free or reduced price lunches. Measuring students receiving free or reduced price lunches is way of tracking poverty levels in the schools.
Informational Pop-ups—Information about the quantifiable indicators for a census tract are contained in a pop-up. To access the information, click on a census tract. The pop-up includes information about all of the quantifiable indicators that are used to calculate the opportunity rating such as the percentage of people in a census tract who have a college or associates degree or the math and reading scores for schools serving that census tract. Select here for an explanation of the factors and calculations that are used to arrive at the “comprehensive opportunity rating.”
The Connecticut Fair Housing Center wishes to acknowledge and thank the Open Communities Alliance (for information about the Open Communities Alliance and their work, select here) for their work in updating the maps and writing the explanation of the methodology.
Finding the indicators for an address—On the right side of the map is a search bar that allows users to type in an address and find the neighborhood indicators for the census tract that contains the address. Include the street number, municipality, and state and click “enter” once the address is complete. If the street name is a common one, e.g. Main Street or Elm Street, include the zip code. If a user wants information about an entire municipality, type the name of the municipality into the search bar and click “enter.” The information in the pop-up will be a composite from all of the census tracts in that municipality.
Printing— To print the data included in the pop-up, hold the mouse down and highlight all of the data in the pop-up. Right click, then select “copy.” Open a new Word document and use the tools in the “home” tab under “clipboard” to paste the data into a Word document. You will then be able to print the Word document containing the data.