Seal of Civic Readiness
Use our online catalog to find print books and other items available in the WHS library.
Britannica's ProCon.org
ProCon.org, owned by Britannica, looks at a multitude of controversial issues and succinctly compares perspectives of these issues.
Issues & Controversies
Issues & Controversies helps researchers understand critical contemporary topics by providing comprehensive coverage on subjects across politics, business, society, and culture. The database, updated weekly, features in-depth pro/con articles, editorials, and columns, organized for easy navigation and user-friendly research. With expert-written content, primary sources, and supplemental materials, it supports research papers, debate preparation, and persuasive writing.
Opposing Viewpoints (Gale In Context)
Continuously updated information and opinions cover hot issues
ArcGIS Maps of Syracuse & Onondaga County
This database contains maps of Syracuse and Onondaga County that focus on boundaries, businesses, education, health, housing, and transportation.
Bureau of Labor Statistics Economy At A Glance: Syracuse
This webpage provides data on the economy and jobs in Syracuse.
City Health Dashboard - Syracuse, New York
This City Health Dashboard webpage, created by NYU Langone Health, provides health-related data for the city of Syracuse, New York.
CNY Fair Housing
NY Fair Housing is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1991, dedicated to eliminating housing discrimination, promoting open communities, and ensuring equal access to housing opportunities for all people in Central and Northern New York. The organization, based in Syracuse, New York, provides: enforcement and litigation, education and outreach, and research and contractual services.
CNY Vitals
CNY Vitals is an initiative of the Central New York Community Foundation. This ‘state of the community’ website provides a common source of data and interactive visualizations on critical topics that affect the health and progress of our region in order to inform community members, spur discussion, identify emerging issues and plan community investments.
Data USA for Onondaga County
This webpage from Data USA, provides data on Onondaga County for income, housing, demographics, elections, etc.
FOCUS Greater Syracuse Reports & Initiatives
FOCUS Greater Syracuse, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization in Onondaga County that has promoted civic engagement, participation, and education in the Central New York community for over 25 years. FOCUS conducts research initiatives focusing on citizens and provides reports and recommendations based on its findings. Their reports are widely used by Onondaga County, Syracuse City, other organizations, businesses, and individuals for future planning purposes.
Mapping Inequity in Syracuse
This webpage, created by the University of Richmond, provides information on redlining in Syracuse, New York.
New York State Board of Elections - Elected Officials
This New York State Board of Elections webpage provides information on state and local elected officials.
Miseducation: Syracuse City School District
Based on civil rights data released by the U.S. Department of Education, ProPublica has built an interactive database to examine racial disparities in educational opportunities and school discipline. This one focuses on the Syracuse City School District.
Miseducation: Westhill Central School District
Based on civil rights data released by the U.S. Department of Education, ProPublica has built an interactive database to examine racial disparities in educational opportunities and school discipline. This one focuses on the Westhill Central School District.
New York State Kids Count
This website provides statistics on children, youth and families in New York from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the New York State Council on Children and Families
NYSED Onondaga County School Districts Data
This New York State Education Department webpage provides data on the Onondaga County school districts. It provides links to all school districts in Onondaga County.
NYSED Syracuse City School District Data
This New York State Education Department webpage provides data on the Syracuse City School District, including demographics, scores, finances, etc.
NYSED Westhill CSD Data
This New York State Education Department webpage provides data on the Westhill Central School District, including demographics, scores, finances, etc.
Onondaga County Board of Elections
This website provides information on Onondaga County election results, voter data, and voter registration.
Onondaga County COVID-19 Data and Reports
This webpage, created by Onondaga County, provides data on the most current testing, cases, and variants for Onondaga County and New York State (including historical data), as well as data regarding COVID-19 hospitalizations, long-term care, and fatalities.
Onondaga County Health Data & Surveillance
The Surveillance program collects, analyzes and interprets data on many different diseases, injuries, and causes of illness or death in Onondaga County. These data are used to: examine risk factors and behaviors related to health in Onondaga County, plan and guide programs that help protect and promote the health of our community; and develop a Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan to ensure that the Health Department’s priorities accurately reflect the needs of the community.
Open Data New York
This state government website provides data for NYS on COVID, environmental issues, education, government, recreation, healthcare, etc.
Open Data Syracuse
This Syracuse City webpage provides data on the city of Syracuse and its neighborhoods.
Syracuse Community Geography
Syracuse Community Geography works in partnership with community-based organizations and university affiliates to map and spatially analyze topics of concern to Central New York communities. SCG helps communities to identify and address challenges in new ways using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping and other forms of spatial analysis.
U.S. Census Bureau Data - Quick Facts about Syracuse
This page provides quick facts regarding the people, businesses, and geography in Syracuse.
New York State Board of Elections - Elected Officials
This New York State Board of Elections webpage provides information on state and local elected officials.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) was created to protect and enhance the environment.
New York State Disadvantaged Communities Criteria and Maps
New York’s Climate Act recognizes that climate change doesn’t affect all communities equally. The Climate Act charged the Climate Justice Working Group (CJWG) with the development of criteria to identify disadvantaged communities, and both maps and criteria sheets were created.
Open Data New York
This state government website provides data for NYS on COVID, environmental issues, education, government, recreation, healthcare, etc.
American Panorama
American Panorama, created by the Digital Scholarship Lab at the University of Richmond, is an historical atlas of the United States for the twenty-first century. It combines cutting-edge research with innovative interactive mapping techniques to create maps such as, "Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America" and "The Forced Migration of Enslaved People."
Britannica's ProCon.org
ProCon.org, owned by Britannica, looks at a multitude of controversial issues and succinctly compares perspectives of these issues.
FiveThirtyEight
FiveThirtyEight, sometimes rendered as 538, is an American website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States.
Gallup
Gallup, Inc. is an American analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide.
Opportunity Atlas
Which neighborhoods in America offer children the best chance to rise out of poverty? The Opportunity Atlas answers this question using anonymous data following 20 million Americans from childhood to their mid-30s. The Opportunity Atlas is an initial release of social mobility data, the result of a collaboration between researchers at the Census Bureau, Harvard University, and Brown University
Pew Research Center - Research Topics
The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world.
Race and Ethnicity in the US by Dot Density (2020 Census)
This multi-scale map uses dots to represent the population of each race/ethnicity living within an area. Map opens at the state level, centered on the lower 48 states. Data is from U.S. Census Bureau's 2020 PL 94-171 data for tract, block group, and block.
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC)
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is a data gathering, data research and data distribution organization at Syracuse University. The purpose of TRAC is to provide the American people — and institutions of oversight such as Congress, news organizations, public interest groups, businesses, scholars and lawyers — with comprehensive information about staffing, spending, and enforcement activities of the federal government.
U.S. Census Bureau Data
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy.
Academic OneFile (Gale)
Complete source for peer-reviewed scholarly articles across all academic disciplines
Chronicling America
Chronicling America is a website providing access to information about historic newspapers and select digitized newspaper pages, and is produced by the National Digital Newspaper Program, a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress
DocsTeach
DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.
FultonSearch: Historical Newspapers
A searchable repository of over 47,059,000 historical newspaper pages published in New York State and the United States between 1795 and 2007, frequently updated. Also includes a handful of international newspapers. FultonSearch offers an alternative interface to FultonHistory.com, pointing to files hosted and indexed there.
NewsBank - America's Historical Newspapers
This database breaks down news articles by historical period, then by historical event.
NewsBank: Black Life in America
This database is an easy-to-use online resource—updated daily—for every institution working toward social justice and racial equity. It has comprehensive coverage of the African American experience from the early 18th century to the present day and is sourced from more than 19,000 American and global news sources, including over 400 current and historical Black publications.
Newsbank: Hispanic Life in America
Comprehensive coverage of the Hispanic American experience from the early 18th century to the present day Sourced from more than 17,000 publications, including 700 Spanish-language newspapers and periodicals An easy-to-use online resource—updated daily with new material—that illuminates centuries of Hispanic history, culture, and daily life.
NewsBank - World News
NewsBank provides a comprehensive collection of reliable news sources covering a wide array of topics and issues.
NYS Historic Newspapers
The NYS Historic Newspapers project provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York's unique history. To search the entire collection, use the Search Tab. Or, click on a county to search or browse geographically. This collection contains 1,290,460 issues comprising 12,871,962 pages.
Syracuse.com - Post Standard Collection
Find all articles from the Post Standard/Syracuse.com from 1986-present. Note that this database does not include images.
Westhill High School Yearbooks
This collection includes yearbooks from Westhill High School, dating from 1962 - 2018.
Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart
This media bias chart is a unique way of laying out the complex media landscape in two dimensions: reliability, on the vertical axis, and bias, on the horizontal axis.
FactCheck.org
FactCheck.org is a nonprofit website that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics by providing original research on misinformation and hoaxes.
Google Fact Check Explorer
Google Fact Check Explorer is designed to facilitate the work of fact checkers, journalists, and researchers in discovering what has and hasn’t been debunked all over the globe. Think of it as a search engine for fact checks that can help you determine fact from fiction.
PolitiFact
PolitiFact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others on its Truth-O-Meter.
Snopes
Internet reference source for researching urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation.