In March 2020, San Francisco’s child care enrollment dashboard went offline.

The reason was understandable — COVID disrupted everything. Programs closed. Data systems were being rebuilt. Staff were stretched thin.

But the dashboard never came back.

Decisions continued. Funding was allocated. Policies were adjusted. Enrollment shifted. And the community — providers, parents, advocates — couldn’t see any of it.

Snapshots vs. shared visibility

At a 2022 meeting, I asked a simple question: “Why can’t we see the dashboard again?”

The response was polite. Staffing challenges. New data system in progress. Reach out to the data analyst directly if you have specific questions.

But specific questions aren’t the point. The point is shared visibility. When everyone can see the same numbers, the conversation changes. People ask better questions. They hold each other accountable. They catch things that insiders miss.

When only insiders see the numbers, the system starts to feel like a black box. Not because anyone intends it — but because opacity compounds.

What I’ve learned about data and trust

I’ve sat in meetings where enrollment snapshots were presented, and the room reacted as if they were the full picture. But a snapshot without context — without trend lines, without comparisons, without the “why” — can tell the wrong story.

I’ve also pushed for raw figures. The response was reasonable: “Raw data contains parent information.” Fair. But aggregated dashboards don’t. And those dashboards existed before. They worked. People used them.

The question isn’t whether data should be shared. It’s whether the default is transparency or opacity — and who benefits from each.

Design principle

A system that makes decisions based on data the community can’t see is a system that’s designed for efficiency, not trust.

I don’t think this is malicious. I think it’s structural. When systems are under pressure, transparency is the first thing that gets deferred. But deferred transparency becomes permanent opacity — unless someone keeps asking.

So I keep asking.

Then I stopped waiting and built one

After years of asking for the dashboard back, I eventually built my own — an ECE policy simulator and a child care facility map using publicly available data. I wrote about that journey in From Curiosity to Creation.

The tools to do this are more accessible than ever. AI-assisted coding, free data visualization libraries, open datasets — what used to require a full development team is now something one person with curiosity and persistence can build. If you’re an advocate, a provider, or anyone tired of waiting for the system to show you the numbers — the tools are there. Start with a question and see where it takes you.

If that’s something you’d like to explore, let’s connect. I’m happy to share what I’ve learned.