United Way and the American Human Development Project have released the Common Good Forecaster™, a free online tool that lets people see for themselves how improving the education level has a positive impact on several key economic and social measures.

The Common Good Forecaster projects how a change in the education profile of the nation, a state, or local community is linked to wide-ranging ripple effects in ten critical social and economic indicators. For example, what would happen over time in a local community if the dropout rate were cut in half? The Common Good Forecaster shows how this would alter key factors in:

While education is vital for getting a stable and self-supporting job, the cascade of changes extends into many other non-economic quality of life issues.

The Common Good Forecaster allows people to ask many "what if" questions, and see forecasts based on those "what ifs." It is the first tool to allow these types of projections to be made down to the county level for many of the variables.

In addition to the online tool, United Way and the American Human Development Project have released "Goals for the Common Good: Exploring the Impact of Education," a new report on the links between education and key social and economic variables. Check out the Forecaster online. 

The Common Good Forecaster, introduced at the national United Way Staff Leaders Conference in Detroit on May 13, is the first of several joint projects between United Way and the American Human Development Project. While the Common Good Forecaster focuses on the impacts of changing education levels, future Common Good Forecasters will project the ripple effects caused by improving financial stability and health in the nation.