Polkadot JAM Slides - Token2049 - By Dr. Gavin Wood
Opportunity Mapping: Using GIS for Social Equity, Racial Justice and Advocacy
1. ARC – Facing Race 2010 National Conference
Chicago, IL
September 24th 2010
Presented by:
Jason Reece
Senior Researcher
Samir Gambhir
Senior GIS Associate
The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity
The Ohio State University
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2. Today’s Workshop (3 Parts)
Introduction
Learning from you…
What use Mapping
Opportunity Mapping and Advocacy
What is it?
What can it be used for?
Outcomes?
The Future – Democratizing Data
Web Based & Interactive Opportunity Maps
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4. More about us…
Multidisciplinary applied research
institute
Our mission is to expand opportunity
for all, especially for our most
marginalized communities
Founded in 2003 by john powell
(executive director)
Opportunity Communities Program
○ Opening pathways to opportunity for
marginalized communities through
investments in people, places and
supporting linkages
○ Disrupting systems of disadvantage
○ Opportunity mapping, Regional Equity,
Neighborhood Revitalization,
Opportunity Based Housing
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5. Learning from you…
Why are you interested in mapping?
What do you hope to learn in this workshop?
Have you tried using mapping in your
organizing and advocacy?
Why did you use it?
How was it helpful?
What were the challenges?
Are you interested in using mapping – but
haven’t tried it yet?
Why not? What are the impediments & obstacles?
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6. Using Mapping For Advocacy:
Space and Regional Equity
Why are maps particularly effective in
dealing with issues of equity?
Regional, racial and social inequity often
manifest as spatial inequity
Maps are naturally the best tools to display this
spatial phenomena
Other disciplines and sectors are using
multivariate mapping to problem solve
Private industry
Public sector
○ NSP
○ Recent interest in mapping by HUD for supporting
sustainable communities
See recent Urban Institute report
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7. So Why Mapping?
Mapping visually represents
the cumulative effects of
opportunity segregation
Also a strong analytical tool to
look at disparate impact
(especially those impacts
which are spatial and racial in
nature)
• One map may contain tens of
thousands of pieces of information
than can be understood in seconds
A good map can enable you to
tell a story or solve a problem
• Research has shown that people can
solve problems faster with map based
information, than by looking at charts,
tables or graphs
8. Think of Mapping as a Tool:
It ban be used for positive or negative purposes.
E.g. Mapping for Inequity – Redlining to support
institutionalized disinvestment
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10. Opportunity Matters: Space, Place, and Life
Outcomes
“Opportunity” is a situation or condition that places individuals in a position
to be more likely to succeed or excel.
Opportunity structures are critical to opening pathways to success:
High-quality education
Healthy and safe environment
Stable housing
Sustainable employment
Political empowerment
Outlets for wealth-building
Positive social networks
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11. Systems Thinking: We are all situated within
“opportunity structures”
Physical
Social Cultural
Outcomes
&
Behaviors
These structures interact in ways that produce racialized outcomes for different groups, but also
in ways that influence identity
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12. Place and Opportunity Structures:
Neighborhoods & Access to Opportunity
Five decades of research
indicate that your environment
has a profound impact on your
access to opportunity and
likelihood of success
High poverty areas with poor
employment, underperforming
schools, distressed housing
and public health/safety risks
depress life outcomes
A system of disadvantage
Many manifestations
○ Urban, rural, suburban
People of color are far more
likely to live in opportunity
deprived neighborhoods and
communities
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13. Our understanding of opportunity has shifted with
time….from a one- dimensional understanding…
• One variable can explain
why differential
outcomes.
…to a multi-dimensional understanding….
• Structural Inequality
– Example: a Bird in a cage.
Examining one bar cannot
explain why a bird cannot fly.
But multiple bars, arranged in
specific ways, reinforce each
other and trap the bird.
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14. Neighborhoods and Systemic
Disadvantage: Interactive
Source: Barbara Reskin. http://faculty.uwashington.edu/reskin/
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15. Systems are dynamic and create feedback
loops: E.g. the cycle of school segregation
School Lower Educational
Segregation Outcomes for Urban
(Economic) School Districts
Increased Flight
Neighborhood
of Affluent
(Housing)
Families from
Segregation
Urban Areas
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16. Access to Opportunity &
Marginalized Groups
Some people ride the “Up” Others have to run up
escalator to reach the “Down” escalator
opportunity to get there
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17. The Communities of Opportunity Model
and Fair Housing
Everyone should have fair access to the
critical opportunity structures needed to
succeed in life.
Low Opportunity neighborhoods limit the
development of human capital
A Community of Opportunity approach
can develop pathways that result in
increased social and economic health,
benefiting everyone
Looking at people, places and linkages
○ Linkages = building connections to areas of
opportunity
○ Example: Opportunity based fair housing
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18. Forming a New Narrative:
The Opportunity Framework
Deliberate, coordinated, and
regional investments in people,
places, and linkages
Two-pronged approach:
○ Targeted in-place, urban
revitalization strategies
○ Mobility-based investments
for marginalized residents to
access high opportunity
communities’
These are Not opposing strategies! A sustainable,
transformative development strategy requires both
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19. Mapping Opportunity: Why and How
The Kirwan Institute has conducted
“opportunity mapping” for states and
metropolitan regions across the US
Projects in at least a dozen states
○ Full State Analysis: MA, CT, OH, FL
○ Regions: Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta,
Baltimore, Washington D.C., Detroit, Austin,
Sacramento, Los Angeles, New York, Houston, New
Orleans
Why identify the “State of Opportunity”
How are low-income groups situated in the State?
How are racial and ethnic groups situated?
How does housing intersect with race, class and
opportunity
What can be done to improve the opportunity
landscape?
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20. Mapping Communities of Opportunity:
Methods and Indicators
How do you map opportunity?
Data representing community conditions was gathered for
neighborhood (census tracts) across the state or region
○ Data for all indicators of community conditions was aggregated
to the Census Tract level and analyzed to create a
comprehensive opportunity index for the census tracts
(neighborhoods) throughout the state or region
The opportunity index is then mapped and census tracts are
broken into quintiles based on their opportunity score
○ Very Low, Low, Moderate, High, Very High
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21. Sample Indicators: From Recent King
County Opportunity Mapping Analysis
Education
Housing & Neighborhood
Student poverty rates Health
Reading/Math test scores Home ownership rates
Adult educational attainment Crime incidence
Teacher qualifications Vacancy rates
Graduation rate Home value appreciation
Neighborhood poverty rates
Population change
ECONOMIC HEALTH Proximity to parks/open space
Proximity to employment Proximity to toxic waste release sites
Commute times
Job growth trends
Business start trends
Unemployment rate All indicators grounded in social science research
Public assistance rate literature, also indicators can be more narrowly
tailored to meet the needs of particular populations
(e.g. public housing residents).
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23. Example of an Opportunity Map:
Detroit MI
(Dark Areas = Most Opportunity
Rich Communities)
(Light Areas = Most Opportunity
Deprived Areas)
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24. MA Legal Services and
Opportunity Communities
Background on this project
Originated from effort to incorporate
mapping analysis into legal services
Partners
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute,
MA Legal Assistance Corp (foundation)
and other Legal Services Entities
Year long process of meeting with
stakeholders to understand mapping
needs and issues
Training with service providers &
agencies (using mapping for
programming)
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29. Applications and Impact
Program design and use within legal services
New programming – proposed “Adopt A Zip Code”
program
Use in exploring client concerns/challenges
State level program design (public sector)
New $5 million state affordable housing program,
targeted to high opportunity communities (see press
release)
Targeting of $21 million in NSP funds to low opportunity
communities by the MA Department of Housing and
Community Development
Implementation still unfolding
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31. Other Project Impacts: CT
Connecticut
“The mapping is guiding our next round of
fair housing testing…our mapping report has
been identified by the CT Department of
Economic and Community Development as
one of the three central principles that will
guide its planning over the next five years.”
○ Erin Boggs, CT Fair Housing Center
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32. Other Projects Impacts &
Activities
Baltimore
Remedial proposal in Thompson v. HUD
Chicago (Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities)
Use in advising voucher holders in neighborhood selection
Austin
Use in evaluating city’s affordable housing investments
Related Project: Washington County, OR
Advised on opportunity map created by the County included in recent
consolidated plan for County
○ Exploring application in planning activities for the broader Portland region
Child Development
Jacksonville, FL & the Duvall County children’s commission
Evaluation of stimulus/NSP activities
Florida
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33. Moving Forward - Strategies
What is this information/approach useful for?
Diagnostics and targeted investments
Identifying areas of opportunity and challenges
○ Opportunities
Opportunities for investment
- Targeting services better, targeting programs
○ Challenges
E.g. foreclosure patterns – interconnections between foreclosure
and children in need
Looking at broader policy issues and concern
Communications – using maps to illustrate areas of concern, areas
of opportunity, broader community discussions
A powerful tool to help produce a collaborative process
around opportunity isolation among diverse constituencies
34. Moving Forward - Strategies
Spend time identifying areas of concern/need prior to
mapping
Targeted inquiries and analysis (areas of concern, areas of
opportunities for progress)
Diagnostics (programs, investments etc.)
Consider mapping to help address broader challenges
Planning and strategy, communications, public discourse,
advocacy – outreach, stakeholder, informing program design
○ Comprehensive opportunity maps more useful in this role
Be aware of data challenges
Access to data sometimes a limiting factor
35. Want to Learn More?
Resources & Reference Materials
Mapping for Social Justice
The Kirwan Institute Study:
○ Utilizing GIS to Support Advocacy and
Social Justice
More on Opportunity Mapping
The Kirwan Institute Reports
○ Communities of Opportunity: A
Framework for an Equitable &
Sustainable Future
○ The Geography of Opportunity: A Review
of Opportunity Mapping Research
Initiatives
All Available on-line at: kirwaninstitute.org
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36. Want to Learn More?
Resources & Reference Materials
Mapping & Advocacy – Two recent
articles from Clearinghouse Review
Jason Reece and Eric Schultheis. Poverty’s Place:
The Use of Geographic Information Systems in
Poverty Advocacy. Clearinghouse Review Journal of
Poverty Law and Policy. January-February 2009.
Maya Roy and Jason Reece. Poverty’s Place
Revisited: Mapping for Justice & Democratizing Data
to Combat Poverty. Clearinghouse Review Journal of
Poverty Law and Policy. July/August 2010.
To access, visit Clearinghouse
Review at:
www.povertylaw.org/clearinghouse-review
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37. Web Based and Interactive Opportunity Maps
http://www.kirwaninstitute.org/connect/king-county-wa-opportunity-mapping.html
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