PART III: Coordinating HUD Programs
Community 2020™ software

To make creating and using the Consolidated Plans easier, HUD also developed the Community 2020 software program. Community 2020 software is a powerful, yet easy to use, desktop geographic information system (GIS) that brings to life an extensive array of demographic, economic, and HUD program data in the form of vivid, intelligent maps. It is specially designed to enable all people in a community to have a better understanding of how and where HUD resources are being, or plan to be, spent in their community and how the resource allocation relates to conditions in the community. As such, it is designed to expand community participation in the Consolidated Planning process.

Community 2020 software includes a wide array of U.S. Bureau of the Census geographic and demographic data and HUD program data. HUD program data provide detailed descriptions of the many projects that are underway across your region. Program data describe housing and community development projects, funding sources, performance indicators, and neighborhood locations. Data on public housing agencies, their funding, project locations, building characteristics, and tenant information are also at your fingertips. In addition, Community 2020 can integrate data from a wide range of data sources provided by you, the user, to enable you to map information of special concern to you.

Community 2020 has a "Map Library" which allows you to create and save informative, analytic maps. The Map Library is a set of pre-programmed maps that are immediately customized to your home location upon installation of the software. You can also create your own customized maps by altering the pre-programmed maps or creating entirely new maps. You can then store commonly used customized maps in the Map Library for easy access. Each map is interactive and allows you to zoom in to see the map contents for a single city block or zoom out to see view the region, state, or multi-state area.

In 1996, HUD's Consolidated Plan and the software systems that support it received the Innovations in American Government Award sponsored by the Ford Foundation and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. HUD was chosen from some 800 state, local, and federal entries to receive the award, which is given to those projects that best represent efforts to streamline government, enhance the cost effectiveness of services and programs, and expand citizen participation. The award signifies the importance of the Consolidated Plan and planning software in HUD's reinvention as a "community-first, right-side up" agency.

To purchase a copy of Community 2020 software, call 1-800-998-9999. Ask for or select Product Sales.