Growing Needs in a Growing State

​The Institute for Public Administration (IPA) has released a policy brief assessing the history and future of the Delaware Population Consortium (DPC). The research was funded by the Delaware Department of Transportation Planning Division to summarize the evolving role of DPC in developing a unified system for statewide population projection. The projections offer essential demographic and economic characteristics of Delaware’s communities.

Authored by Julia O’Hanlon and Sean O’Neill, IPA policy scientists, and Lindsay Prickett (MPP ’23), graduate public administration fellow, the brief described how DPC’s population projections and data analysis help frame policy implications and the potential impacts of Delaware’s changing demographic. Policymakers, agency leaders and local stakeholders use population projections and analyses to assess issues impacting residents, including transportation planning, new school construction and services for the increasing older adult population in Delaware. 

Since its inception in 1975, research and staff support for the DPC has been provided by UD’s Center for Applied Demography and Survey Research. In 2019, the DPC was officially codified into Delaware state law by Gov. John Carney. 

The policy brief introduced recommendations and questions for state policymakers to consider including state funding for DPC projections, additional partnerships and missing concepts from the DPC framework. In addition, a formal research and staff budgetary structure may help to maintain DPC’s mission to continue offering objective information to the state. Both IPA and CADSR are research centers in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration. 

Read the full report on UDSpace.​

By Sophonie Milord | Story originally posted in UDaily ​