The coronavirus pandemic has transformed our world in a matter of weeks, and its effects on our communities, institutions, and systems will be felt long after the public health crisis subsides. In a recent editorial, Nick Hart of the Data Foundation and Dr. Nancy Potok, who served on the bipartisan Commission on Evidence-Based Policy Making, highlighted the need for the United States to invest in evidence building to measure the effects of the pandemic and to evaluate the success of our policy interventions.

The steps outlined in the article — investing in the implementation of the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, improving data sharing infrastructure among government agencies and expanding access to income and earnings, among others — are crucial to shape and evaluate our national response to this crisis. We would also argue that similar investments are necessary to increase the capacity of state and local agencies and nonprofit organizations to use data for innovation and continuous improvement, and to build evidence for effective solutions that produce measurable outcomes.

The crisis has put a stark spotlight on the inequities in health, housing, education, and economic safety in our society, which will continue to grow in the absence of effective solutions with demonstrable evidence of outcomes. This was our challenge before COVID-19, and it is even more pressing now. It has also revealed the importance of strong data and evidence in responding to social needs and developing solutions to human suffering at scale. We can learn important lessons from existing research and evidence to chart a path forward, but we also need to improve the way evidence is currently generated to encourage innovation for better results for our communities.