PHILADELPHIA - The William Penn Foundation has awarded a $600,000, three-year grant to the University of Pennsylvania, in support of the Kids Integrated Data System project.

Drawing on independent databases maintained by municipal agencies, KIDS links the records of individual children from birth to age 21 to provide researchers with population-based information that enables them to identify critical needs, evaluate current programs and develop improved services.  The result of an unprecedented collaboration between the City of Philadelphia, the School District of Philadelphia and Penn, KIDS is one of the only fully integrated archival data systems in the U.S.

Penn faculty members John Fantuzzo, Dennis Culhane and Trevor Hadley initiated the KIDS program, representing a multi-disciplinary effort among the Graduate School of Education, the School of Social Policy and Practice and the School of Medicine.

"From the very beginning of this project, it has been our goal to incorporate KIDS within the City of Philadelphia and the University.  With this grant from the William Penn Foundation, we'll be able to work with our partners to establish KIDS as a sustainable resource within the city," Fantuzzo, a Penn GSE professor, said.

Designed to enable KIDS to be self-supporting, the grant will help the University develop the KIDS Research Service Center to provide data and consulting resources for University and city agency researchers.  Anticipated outcomes include an increase in KIDS researchers, the development of research projects from city agencies, community-wide research finding distribution and the replication of KIDS around the country.