Studying our community, informing action.
We believe an informed community is empowered to advocate for the local, evidence-based policies and solutions that can improve quality of life for all.
We are currently transitioning our Community Data to an integrated dashboard across the Seven Vital Conditions through Thriving Together. All data currently published on our website will remain accessible and available to you. The new dashboard will offer an updated approach to how we produce and present community data.
Who We Are
Forsyth Futures is a nonprofit data and research organization working alongside Forsyth County’s organizations, coalitions, and residents. We believe data is never neutral, so we work in relationship with the people and communities we study, not apart from them. As a backbone partner within Thriving Together and other community-led initiatives, we help ensure that data is shared, not extracted, and that it strengthens the leadership and lived expertise already present in our community.
Our Capabilities
Our staff of reserachers, analysts, and content-producers are ready to put data to work to help you ask the right questions, clarify your perspective, and take your work to the next level.
Data Collection and Analysis
Interactive Data Visualization
Geospatial Analysis
Program Design and Evaluation
Literature Review
Communication and Design
To learn more about what Forsyth Futures can do for your organization, click here.
Through a Gender Lens 2026: the Economic Security of Women and Girls in Forsyth County
This report examines the economic conditions shaping the lives of women and girls in Forsyth County, from wages and housing to childcare and education, with particular attention to the disparities faced by Black and Latine women. For the first time, the report was shaped through a community-based participatory research process, with a cohort of local women guiding the questions, data, and findings from start to finish, pairing quantitative data with lived experience throughout.
Produced by Forsyth Futures in partnership with The Women’s Fund of Winston-Salem and Action4Equity, 2026.
The Intersectionality of Black Life & Being
The Intersectionality of Black Life and Being is a report on perspectives and experiences of the Black community in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County (WS/FC), North Carolina, produced using a community-based research (CBR) framework. The content of this report was built into an interactive, web-based microsite. This microsite aims to bring together many varieties of content, including history, stories, community voices, data, and images, to weave a ‘tapestry’ that is thoughtful and intentional. It conveys the vibrancy of Black cultural abundance in WS/FC.
This report was commissioned by the Black Philanthropy Initiative of the Winston-Salem Foundation and produced in collaboration with Action4Equity, Forsyth Futures, and a cohort of community participants, 2023.
Pre-K Feasibility Study
The goal of the Pre-K Feasibility Study was to learn more about the perceptions, existing utilization, and interest in Pre-K/preschool services for families in Forsyth County, North Carolina. In addition to understanding existing programs and services, the study examines facility space and staffing capacity to determine what it would take to help improve and potentially expand Pre-K/preschool services.
The Pre-K feasibility study was conducted by Forsyth Futures in partnership with Family Services, Inc. and funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, 2020.
The Benefits Cliff in Forsyth County, North Carolina
The Benefits Cliff happens when a pay increase results in an overall loss of income and benefits, threatening the financial stability of working households across our community. This interactive microsite explores how the cliff affects real households, breaks down the benefit programs involved, and offers tools and resources for employers, benefit recipients, and change makers working to address it.
Produced by Forsyth Futures in partnership with the Asset Building Coalition of Forsyth County, 2023.
Community Briefing:
the Local Impact of COVID-19
As we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, local economic conditions are evolving faster than can be measured using the data sources we typically rely on to inform community decision making. The purpose of this Briefing is to provide the most useful information possible about our rapidly-changing local economic conditions. The report includes a dashboard, a literature review featuring interviews with local experts, and analyses of an expanded range of community measures.
Produced by Forsyth Futures, 2020.