Berks Vital Signs is an initiative of the Berks Community Foundation and Alvernia University . It is aimed at deepening our knowledge and understanding of our County. The data and analysis will serve as a common source of information on critical topics that affect the health and progress of Berks County and inform community stakeholders, spur discussion and collaboration, and monitor our quality of life.

Community indicators are measurements of social, environmental and economic factors that affect quality of life. In a community indicator project, these factors are gathered and analyzed over time to monitor the community’s well-being and whether it’s improving, declining, or staying the same. These metrics help us decide how to focus our resources to improve our community, and then to monitor the impact of our collective efforts.

Our overview report will be updated annually, and the online data will be updated more frequently to allow for continual monitoring of the community’s evolving needs.

Using this data, the Berks Community Foundation will help the community create a shared vision for Berks future and build a data-driven civic agenda to realize that vision. The Berks Community Foundation will then facilitate partnerships and strategic initiatives that help align the community’s resources to support the agenda.

This project includes data for Berks County, six surrounding counties (Chester, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery and Schuylkill), the state of Pennsylvania, the nation and local areas within Berks County, broken into five regions and Reading City. The internal county regions are made up of boroughs and townships within Berks County. The internal regions are Central (five boroughs and townships including Reading City), Northeast (18 boroughs and townships), South (12 boroughs and townships), Southeast (13 boroughs and townships) and West (25 boroughs and townships).

Berks County Regions
Central	Northeast	South	Southeast	West
Laureldale borough	Albany township	Brecknock township	Amity township	Bern township
Lower Alsace township	Alsace township	Cumru township	Bally borough	Bernville borough
Mount Penn borough	District township	Exeter township	Bechtelsville borough	Bethel township
Muhlenberg township	Fleetwood borough	Kenhorst borough	Birdsboro borough	Centerport borough
Reading city	Greenwich township	Lower Heidelberg township	Boyertown borough	Centre township
	Hereford township	Mohnton borough	Caernarvon township	Hamburg borough
	Kutztown borough	St. Lawrence borough	Colebrookdale township	Heidelberg township
	Lenhartsville borough	Shillington borough	Douglass township	Jefferson township
	Longswamp township	Sinking Spring borough	Earl township	Leesport borough
	Lyons borough	Spring township	New Morgan borough	Marion township
	Maidencreek township	West Reading borough	Robeson township	North Heidelberg township
	Maxatawny township	Wyomissing borough	Union township	Ontelaunee township
	Oley township		Washington township	Penn township
	Pike township			Perry township
	Richmond township			Robesonia borough
	Rockland township			Shoemakersville borough
	Ruscombmanor township			South Heidelberg township
	Topton borough			Strausstown borough
				Tilden township
				Tulpehocken township
				Upper Bern township
				Upper Tulpehocken township
				Wernersville borough
				Windsor township
				Womelsdorf borough

Berks Vital Signs was developed with assistance from the Center for Governmental Research (CGR), based in Rochester, New York. CGR is a nonprofit research and consulting firm that has created several community indicator projects in New York State, Tennessee, Florida, and other locations.