At DISC, we know individuals, members of the public, policymakers, and leaders rely on comprehensive, longitudinal information for decision-making that improves and sustains outcomes for individuals and their communities. This requires collecting and integrating data across education, the workforce, social services, and other sectors. But it can be challenging to navigate the variations in state laws and supports, privacy concerns, and required knowledge of social service and labor laws.
We help public agencies overcome those challenges, supporting data integration efforts by providing comprehensive expertise and resources tailored to meet your needs from planning that includes user-centered design to system security with the latest privacy-enhancing technology.
The Data Integration Support Center was incubated and developed at WestEd in 2022 with the support of a grant from the Gates Foundation. It moved to MDRC in the fall of 2026.
Learn more about DISC from this 2025 video, “Introduction to the Data Integration Support Center.”
Who We Are
Our Mission
In 2022, the Data Integration Support Center (DISC) was established to offer public agencies comprehensive and tailored assistance focused on planning and user-centered design, policy, privacy, and legal support to help agencies integrate data across sectors, including early childhood, social services, and the workforce.
Our flexible approach and knowledgeable staff help Integrated Data System teams engage decision-makers in the process of creating plans for actionable data use, navigating the variations in state laws and supports, identify privacy concerns, and provide required knowledge of social service and labor laws to support even the most difficult governance, technological, or security challenges.
Our team of experts is committed to the following:
Supporting Data
We support integrations across sectors that provide that provide a whole-person, whole-community picture, enabling more equitable outcomes.
Expanding Capacity
We accelerate data integration efforts through legal assistance and research, privacy and security expertise, and governance facilitation.
Ensuring Actionability
We support implementation of user-centered design and engage community members, ensuring transparency about which data is linked and how it can be accessed and used.
Monitoring Legislative and Regulatory Developments
We review and analyze federal, state, and local laws that impact data integration efforts.
Empowering Public Agencies
We support modernizing and aligning federal privacy laws and guidance across sectors. This allows decision-makers and leaders the independence to choose data integration paths that include social services, the workforce, and early childhood aligned to state needs.
Center Partners
A nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, MDRC conducts rigorous studies of programs and policies that affect people with low incomes, actively disseminates the lessons to policymakers and practitioners, and works directly with programs and agencies to help improve their effectiveness and efficiency.
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