The Community Indicators Initiative spearheaded by Eastern Washington University has expanded to include Kootenai County.

The Kootenai County Indicators website – www.kootenai trends.org – is one of several created by EWU’s Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis.

Analytical information is presented in eight categories: people, economic vitality, education, environment, health, housing and transportation, public safety, and recreation and tourism.

“This website will give communities in Kootenai County a way to assess how they are doing in key quality of life areas,” said the institute’s director, Patrick Jones.

Jones worked with Kootenai County community leaders to determine what data should be published. The project seeks to inform decisions and policies in the private and public arenas.

The institute already manages six community indicator projects for Spokane County and eight other counties in Eastern Washington. Graphs from the Spokane County data appear weekly in the Sunday Business section of The Spokesman-Review. Kootenai County data soon will join the rotation in that section.

The project is funded by a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Kootenai County project is also funded by the Inland Northwest Community Foundation.