April 27, 2021

Dear Atlas users,

With the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the Atlas team stands in solidarity with George Floyd’s family. True justice would be a world where George Floyd was never murdered. We remain committed to supporting the fight for racial equity and systemic justice through our analyses, disaggregated data tools, and campaign support. Here are some updates:

Join Us for the Launch of the Racial Equity Data Lab on May 6

The National Equity Atlas is America’s most detailed report card on racial and economic equity – and now we’re democratizing our data even further help you to build your own custom Atlas-powered data dashboards. Join us on May 6 at 12:00pm Pacific / 3:00 Eastern for the launch of the Racial Equity Data Lab, a new space on the Atlas where you can create unique data displays, dashboards, and maps. The Lab has everything you need to tell your community’s equity story using Atlas data: ready-to-use datasets, data visualization basics, and a step-by-step guide to get you started. We’ll also share a starter dashboard focused on the importance of raising the minimum wage. For example, in Dallas, fewer workers earn at least $15 now than in 1980, due entirely to racial inequities. Join this webinar to hear more about the Lab, how we’re using it to support equity campaigns, and how to create custom data visualizations for your community. Register now!

New Rent Debt Dashboard Tracks Covid Impacts to Support Broad Renter Protections

Stabilizing renters experiencing housing insecurity is key to an equitable recovery and lasting prosperity for our communities, so we partnered with Right to the City Alliance to equip advocates and policymakers with timely, local data on the extent of renter debt and the characteristics of households affected by it. Our regularly updated data reveals that the renters behind on rent owe an average of $3,400 – and the vast majority of them are low-wage workers, disproportionately people of color, who’ve suffered job and income losses due to the economic shutdowns. Without sufficient eviction protection, debt relief, and financial support, these Covid-impacted renters will be left behind. Visit the rent debt dashboard to see the data for your community, and check out our accompanying analysis.

In the News

This month, Forbes highlighted the Atlas as a key tool for advancing racial equity on a municipal level. Denver7 TV aired a story featuring the findings and implications of our rent debt analysis, and Planetizen also highlighted the data in our rent debt dashboard. Government Affairs called for the Biden Administration to develop equity indicators modeled after the Atlas. And ABC Cleveland, Energy News Network, and Akron Beacon Journal all cited our data in their coverage of racial inequities. See a complete list of media coverage here.

- The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

Dear Bay Area Equity Atlas Users:

January 11, 2021

Dear Bay Area Equity Atlas Users:

Happy New Year from the Bay Area Equity Atlas team! This has been a year of tremendous economic and social turmoil for our region and the nation. The Covid-19 pandemic and the outcry against police brutality and systemic racism following the murder of George Floyd pushed structural racism to the forefront of public consciousness and elevated equity in local policy debates. Throughout 2020, we worked to equip advocates and the public with relevant, deeply disaggregated local data to inform policy and systems changes to advance racial equity.

Covid-19 Dashboard, Frontline Workers Analysis Reveal Pandemic’s Impact on Communities of Color

To track the community-level impact of the pandemic, we launched a daily-updated dashboard in December that provides ZIP code-level data on total Covid cases from the four Bay Area counties that publish such detailed geographic data. The dashboard reveals how neighborhoods with large Latinx and Black populations have been hardest hit and can be used to inform targeted relief and recovery strategies. We also analyzed the Bay Area’s 1.1 million-strong essential workforce and found that Black, Filipinx, women of color, and immigrant workers are disproportionately represented in essential industries and vulnerable to economic and health risks.

 

Partnering with Bay Area Organizers to Assess Eviction Risk, Support Tenant Protections

We produced county-level fact sheets estimating the number of renter households at risk of eviction in the midst of the current economic crisis. Our Contra Costa county factsheet, produced in July in partnership with the Raise the Roof Coalition, found that nearly 22,000 households were at risk of eviction, and helped to secure an extension of the county’s eviction moratorium from July to September. We produced similar resources for San Mateo and Sonoma counties in partnership with the People’s Alliance of San Mateo County and the North Bay Organizing Project, we as well as for the state of California (with the Housing Now! coalition). Find them here.

Tracking Racial Equity in Political Representation, Police Use of Force, and Income

In February, we analyzed the latest data on the race and gender of top local elected officials and found that while the region is making progress on political representation, people of color — especially the Latinx and Asian or Pacific Islander communities — remain underrepresented in elected office. We also reviewed the use of force indicator in the Atlas and found that Black residents are disproportionately the victims of police violence. Of the nearly 200 incidents in 2016 and 2017, one-fifth involved Black people even though they make up just 6 percent of the region’s population. We also analyzed the typical income classifications used to inform housing policy (e.g. 50 and 80 percent of Area Median Income) and found that nearly half of all residents are considered low income. Black and Latino residents are overrepresented in very-low-income households while White residents are overrepresented among high-income households.

Democratizing Equity Data in the Region

We continued to share the Atlas resource with community leaders across the region, albeit virtually, including presenting our data with the Oakland Department of Violence Prevention and the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative, and hosting community trainings with the All-in Alameda County initiative, Boston Private Bank in San Francisco, and the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits.

Atlas in the News

Our data and reports have been covered by media outlets including the San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate, Mercury News, Palo Alto Online, East Bay Times, Patch, San Francisco Business Times, Tableau, and more.

We have big plans for 2021, including new analyses, tools, and partnerships, so stay tuned. Thank you for your continued interest in our work!

The Bay Area Equity Atlas team

Dear Bay Area Equity Atlas Users:

The results of this year’s elections are largely due to a historic groundswell of activism led by people of color and grassroots community organizations across the country, including the Bay Area. As the movement for racial equity continues to build momentum, the Atlas team is proud to partner with local leaders at the forefront of policy change. Our research this month highlights the urgent need to center low-income communities and people of color in both the ongoing Covid-19 recovery and in the long-term vision for a just and fair society. Here are some updates:

Atlas Dashboard Reveals Majority Black and Latinx Neighborhoods Hardest Hit by Covid-19

To track the community-level impact of the pandemic, the Atlas team launched a new automatically-updated dashboard that provides ZIP code-level data on total Covid cases from the four Bay Area counties that publish such detailed geographic data: Alameda, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and Sonoma. By analyzing Covid cases in each ZIP code in relation to the share of Black and Latinx residents, the dashboard highlights how neighborhoods with large populations of color have been hardest hit: The four ZIP codes with the highest case rates are majority-Latinx or majority-Black. Targeted strategies are needed to improve conditions in these hotspots, including community testing, better enforcement of workplace safety standards, rental supports, and continued eviction protections.

New Report Highlights Strategies for Inclusive Recovery and an Equitable Future of Work

In partnership with Burning Glass Technologies and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, the National Equity Atlas released, Race and the Work of the Future: Advancing Workforce Equity in the United States, a comprehensive analysis of long-standing racial gaps in labor market outcomes, the economic impacts of Covid-19, and the racial equity implications of automation. We found that White workers are 50 percent more likely than workers of color to hold good jobs, and that eliminating racial inequities in income could boost the US economy by $2.3 trillion a year. We’re currently partnering with Rework the Bay to produce a similar report for the Bay Area, which will be published in spring 2021. Watch our webinar presentation and read the full report.

Eviction Risk Analyses Released for California

The Atlas team has been supporting the Our Homes, Our Health housing justice effort by producing eviction risk fact sheets for local campaigns advocating for strong renter protection and eviction moratorium policies across the country. This month, we published a factsheet for California (with Housing NOW! California), which found that 1.6 million renter households are experiencing rent shortfall and potentially facing eviction. We plan to publish a factsheet for the nine-county Bay Area later this year. Find them here.

Thank you!

The Bay Equity Atlas team