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This interactive tool provides:

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Core Functionality

  • Zip code entry with validation for 5-digit US codes

  • Composite risk score (0-100) with visual gauge indicating overall newborn health environment

  • Five domain-specific assessments aligned with the WHO social determinants framework and CDC SVI domains

 

Assessment Domains

  1. Economic stability — poverty rate, unemployment, median income, housing burden

  2. Education access — high school completion, college attainment, limited English proficiency, maternal education

  3. Healthcare access — uninsurance rate, primary care provider ratio, prenatal care timing, distance to NICU

  4. Neighborhood environment — air quality, lead exposure risk, food desert status, green space coverage

  5. Social & community context — single-parent households, violent crime, social isolation, adverse childhood experiences prevalence

 

Data Integration Framework The tool is designed to connect to:

  • US Census Bureau ACS 5-year estimates (ZCTA-level) for demographic and economic variables

  • CDC WONDER linked birth/infant death files for outcome validation

  • Social Deprivation Index (SDI) — validated composite of 7 ACS variables at ZCTA level

  • Area Deprivation Index (ADI) — neighborhood-level disadvantage metric

 

Current Sample Data Four representative zip codes are pre-loaded to demonstrate the tool's functionality:

  • 77004 — High-disadvantage urban (Houston Third Ward)

  • 60614 — Low-disadvantage urban (Chicago Lincoln Park)

  • 90210 — Affluent suburban (Beverly Hills)

  • 38829 — Rural disadvantaged (Booneville, MS)

For production deployment, the tool would query live APIs from data.census.gov, the Neighborhood Atlas, and the Robert Graham Center SDI downloads, with geocoding to match user-entered ZIP codes to ZCTA boundaries.

Newborn Accountability Map — a civic-tech tool that bridges the gap between social determinants of health data and democratic accountability. It connects the zip code-level SDoH assessment to the full chain of officials, institutions, and power structures whose decisions shape infant outcomes.

How the Four Functions Work

Function 1: ZIP-Code Official Lookup The tool maps the full stack of representation — federal (House, Senate), state (legislature, governor), county (executive, sheriff, health), local (school board, health department), and agency heads (Medicaid director, early childhood director). In production, this queries the Google Civic Information API (free, supports address-to-official lookup from President to local offices) and Ballotpedia API (comprehensive officeholder data with contact info, school board coverage, and district boundaries).

Function 2: Living Position Record Each official carries a tracked position on two focus issues: the first 1,000 days (Medicaid postpartum extension, universal pre-K, paid leave, maternal health funding, nutrition/WIC) and AI's societal impact (algorithmic accountability in healthcare/child welfare, AI in education, data privacy, bias auditing). These are sourced from Congress.gov voting records, ProPublica Congress API for bill sponsorship and votes, LegiScan for state legislation, and manual research by advocacy partners.

Function 3: Accountability Instruments

  • Scorecards: Composite ratings (0-100) for first-1,000-days advocacy, AI accountability, overall responsiveness, and questionnaire response rate — with breakdowns across maternal health, childcare, paid leave, nutrition, housing, AI regulation, digital rights, healthcare AI, education AI, and labor AI.

  • Living Questionnaire: Six standardized questions tracked across all officials with status (answered/pending/unasked) and recorded responses. This creates persistent, comparable records over time.

  • Campaign Finance Context: Contributions from healthcare PACs, education unions, tech/AI industry, child advocacy organizations, and real estate — sourced from OpenSecrets API (federal) and FEC filings (updated every 15 minutes for electronic filings), plus state ethics commission data.

Function 4: Action Layer

  • Direct contact: Phone numbers, email forms, office addresses with one-click call prompts

  • Meeting schedules: County commissioners court, school board meetings, state legislative sessions

  • Voter registration: Registration deadlines, polling places, early voting dates, mail ballot requests — powered by Democracy Works Elections API (14,000+ elections, voter guidance, ballot information) and Vote.gov

  • Advocacy connections: Local and national groups aligned with newborn health and AI accountability (March of Dimes, Erikson Institute, ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Zero to Three)

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