{"id":769595,"date":"2025-11-11T17:49:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T01:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcuser&#038;p=769595"},"modified":"2025-11-11T17:49:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T01:49:35","slug":"understanding-the-who-what-and-where-of-the-y-with-arcgis-business-analyst","status":"publish","type":"arcuser","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/understanding-the-who-what-and-where-of-the-y-with-arcgis-business-analyst","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Who, What, and Where of the Y with ArcGIS Business Analyst"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[493251],"tags":[204562,611,318932,473182],"arcuser_issues":[493245],"class_list":["post-769595","arcuser","type-arcuser","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gis-at-work","tag-arcgis-business-analyst","tag-business-intelligence","tag-infographics","tag-ymca","arcuser_issues-fall-2025"],"acf":{"short_description":"Learn how the YMCA uses ArcGIS Business Analyst to better understand its members and identify beneficial programming.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"There\u2019s a good chance that no matter where a person lives in the United States, they have a YMCA\u2014or Y\u2014nearby.\r\n\r\nWith nearly 2,600 locations across the country, the Y has been a popular destination for people looking to improve their health and wellness; build community; access free and nutritious meals; and participate in water safety, childcare, and youth development programs.\r\n\r\n\u201cYs have a strong awareness of their members and need support in better understanding the broader communities they serve,\u201d said Andy Henry, senior analyst for GIS and data visualization with YMCA of the USA (Y-USA). Henry has helped provide that understanding. He uses ArcGIS Business Analyst to create infographics tailored to each location, showing data about the surrounding community. This information has become critical to crafting strategies and growing operations.\r\n\r\nKnowing more about current and potential members, to identify the services and programming that might appeal to both, is essential to running a Y. So is being savvy at picking the best places to open or grow a location and being adept at advocacy when seeking support or grant funding.\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen Y staff see the infographics, it gives them the insights they need for helping with strategic planning, grant applications, and more,\u201d Henry said.\r\n\r\nFor one location in South Dakota, for example, the infographic shows details about the median household income, how many households have children, the largest population groups based on age and gender, and characteristics such as interest in exercising regularly and seeking information on healthy diets. It shows what jobs community members hold. It also shows how many people swim (24 percent), lift weights (20 percent), and do yoga (13 percent). The Y can then make decisions on what kind of programming to offer based on community interests and characteristics."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>Transformational Data<\/h2>\r\nFor Rob Totaro, director of member advancement for the Alliance of New York State YMCAs, the information gained through ArcGIS Business Analyst has been transformational.\r\n\r\n\u201cVisualizing economic and health-related needs in specific neighborhoods has allowed Ys to expand into underserved communities, create new programs, and refine services to better meet demand,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nTotaro works with 38 independent Ys and more than 135 branches. In his role, he also advocates on their behalf, providing lawmakers with tailored, district-specific data to make more compelling cases for policies and funding that support YMCA programs across New York."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":769596,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cAt the statewide level, it has made our advocacy more precise and impactful,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nAccess to rich data has been a departure from the limited data he often encountered throughout his 25-year career in marketing across multiple industries. The insights, often limited to basic demographics and surface-level information, weren\u2019t enough to drive meaningful strategy. Now, as he supports YMCAs through strategic planning and board governance processes, he can analyze membership trends, comprehensive demographic data, and socioeconomic profiles to lead change management initiatives that challenge assumptions and preconceived ideas.\r\n\r\n\u201cWith these tools, I can show YMCA boards where their members actually are and highlight community needs they may not have considered,\u201d he said. \u201cUltimately, the reports have helped demonstrate both accountability and vision. They show that we understand our communities deeply and that we are making thoughtful, data-driven choices to improve health, strengthen families, and build stronger communities.\u201d\r\n\r\nSometimes the data confirms what YMCA boards already knew, but other times, it reveals blind spots. \u201cIn both cases, it ensures that choices are grounded in evidence rather than guesswork,\u201d he said."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h2>Custom Reports, No Additional Cost<\/h2>\r\nHenry generates each infographic report in ArcGIS Pro using a Python script to update it automatically. He includes Esri\u2019s latest demographic data, the ArcGIS Tapestry segment profile, which is updated once a year. Every YMCA branch location gets an infographic showing data within a 12-minute drive time, or a three- to five-mile radius. There are also reports for each of the more than 700 YMCA associations across the 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.\r\n\r\nWhat made Business Analyst particularly appealing to Henry was the ability to integrate Y-USA\u2019s own internal, proprietary datasets with Esri\u2019s available datasets to create custom infographics and reports.\r\n\r\nPreviously, individual YMCAs would have had to pay for a third party to do a special analysis of their communities and members. Now, they can request reports directly through the national resource office, Y-USA, at no additional cost. They can also access the data on their own, in a self-serve capacity, to make their own reports.\r\n\r\nHenry has also used Business Analyst to run sustainability assessments for site selection of new locations or expansions; quickly produce reports on demand (including demographics profiles, market potential, and consumer segmentation); and compare locations against key benchmarks for further analysis.\r\n\r\n\u201cData isn\u2019t the final answer, but it\u2019s a good starting point,\u201d Henry said. \u201cThese tools make it easier for Ys to visualize who lives in their communities and begin asking the right questions.\u201d\r\n\r\nFor Totaro, the tools have done even more than that.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe reports have fundamentally elevated the Y\u2019s ability to plan strategically, serve effectively, and advocate persuasively,\u201d he said. \u201cBy grounding decisions in credible, visualized data, they help Ys move beyond intuition and anecdote to a more objective, evidence-based approach.\u201d"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Understanding the Who, What, and Where of the Y with ArcGIS Business Analyst | Fall 2025 | ArcUser<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how the YMCA uses ArcGIS Business Analyst to better understand its members and identify beneficial programming.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcuser\/understanding-the-who-what-and-where-of-the-y-with-arcgis-business-analyst\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding the Who, What, and Where of the Y with ArcGIS Business Analyst | Fall 2025 | ArcUser\" 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