Why should we care about racial equity in data management and data use practices? A thread. #CenterRacialEquity /1

Integrated #admindata increasingly provide the raw materials for evaluation, research, and risk modeling, yet racial equity is, at best, a peripheral consideration. 2/

Data integration by local and state governments is undertaken for the public good: by breaking down program silos, practitioners and policy-makers can address the often interconnected needs of families and communities more effectively and holistically. 3/

And yet, most of the institutions engaged in data integration have not examined and acknowledged structural bias in their history, or the ways bias is baked into data as a result of systemic inequities in the development and administration of policies and programs. 4/

Meanwhile, the public—especially advocates from populations made vulnerable by inequitable policies and practices that are overrepresented in many of the administrative datasets being integrated—are rarely consulted in the development and use of data systems. 5/

And though data infrastructure can be a powerful tool to support equity-oriented reforms, racial equity is rarely centered as a core goal for #datasharing & #dataintegration. 6/

This raises fundamental concerns, as #integrateddata increasingly provide the raw materials for evaluation, research, and risk modeling that inform policy, resource allocation, and programmatic decisions. 7/

. @AISP_penn, we convened a group of #civicdata managers, users & community organizers to think through this intersection of data infrastructure and #racialjustice and collaboratively created a toolkit for agency guidance. @PennSP2 8/

Thank you to workgroup members for their time, contributions, brilliance, etc. @michebox @Combsthepoet @RitikaKurup @SheilaLD @drgcscbroward @emersonkingsley @NiiobliArmahIV @RaceForward @RaceForward @ACDHS @AECFNews @StriveTogether 9/

Key learning: there is something that every staff member at every agency can do today to start to #CenterRacialEquity throughout #dataintegration 10/

We look at positive and problematic practices across the data life cycle, and include examples of current “work in action” of sites across the US @ACDHS @CSCBroward @CityofAsheville @CityofTacoma @DataWorks_NC @KYstats @IUDecide @WeAreAsemio @akiyounge @deey_1971 @evogues 11/

Take a look at our co-created toolkit for strategies to #CenterRacialEquity throughout #DataIntegration https://bit.ly/CenterRacialEquity 12/

What are YOU doing to #CenterRacialEquity in your #civicdata use? Please let us know so we can learn how to Center #RacialEquity together 13/13