{"id":481582,"date":"2021-12-21T07:51:37","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T15:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=481582"},"modified":"2024-07-08T16:28:39","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T23:28:39","slug":"mapping-justice-explores-systemic-issues","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/blog\/mapping-justice-explores-systemic-issues","title":{"rendered":"Mapping Justice: Teens Apply Geospatial Tools to Equity Issues"},"author":6761,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[461441],"tags":[162592,271,961,295992],"industry":[],"esri-blog-category":[478442],"esri_blog_department":[478192],"class_list":["post-481582","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-equity-social-justice","tag-education","tag-mapping","tag-spatial-analysis","tag-teaching","esri-blog-category-education","esri_blog_department-gis-for-good"],"acf":{"video_source":"","video_start":"","video_stop":"","short_description":"Students from across the country take an online six-week Mapping Justice course at MIT, gaining a skill and exploring systemic issues.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Nick Okafor maps a more just and equitable society for his job, and mentors students to explore systemic issues at play in their own environments.\r\n\r\nKey Takeaways\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Teenagers learn to apply GIS technology to complex social justice issues important to them.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>An engineer teaches location intelligence as a tool to engage leaders in rethinking decisions.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Students engage with the curriculum by applying the lens of their lived experience.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"As a child, Nick Okafor already knew he would one day enter a career in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). He loved building things, from LEGO models with his friends to bookshelves for his mother. Now, he\u2019s a strategist and researcher at Sidewalk Labs where he helps cities build products and places to radically improve quality of life. In his spare time, he trains high school students to follow in his footsteps.\r\n\r\nIn college, at Washington University in St. Louis, Okafor took classes in biomedical engineering and computer science before deciding to major in mechanical engineering and sustainable development. The courses appealed to his analytical mind and interest in creating things that helped people. Later after graduation while working for Boston Consulting Group, for an externship in 2019, he was asked by Planned Parenthood to apply geographic information system (GIS) technology to create a national market strategy for reproductive healthcare options available in different states across the country; the experience helped Okafor understand how GIS can address complex issues.\r\n\r\n\u201cI knew data, I knew the importance of spatial insights, but for me, that externship was the first time that I connected with GIS,\u201d Okafor said. \u201cIt was a lot of work to understand what their use cases are, what are the questions that they\u2019re grappling with every day. And then as a market analyst, how can I create tools and elevate data to start to help them make the right decisions?\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":482022,"image_position":"center","orientation":"vertical","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In 2020, he began teaching a course called <em>Mapping Justice <\/em>for the <a href=\"https:\/\/oeop.mit.edu\/programs\/mostec\">Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Online Science, Technology, and Engineering Community (MOSTEC)<\/a>. The academic enrichment program from the MIT Office of Engineering Outreach serves high school students, many from underserved communities. It starts with a six-week summer project and mentoring that extends six months through the first semester in the students\u2019 senior year.\r\n\r\nOkafor, who is Black, Queer, and Nigerian, says his goal as an instructor is not just to create more Black analysts, but to have all the students carry the work with them into any industry. \u201cWhether or not they\u2019re going into tech, business, or a local community organization, I think this education is needed. I want them to be mindful of the implicit biases that are present and the role we can play in making impact.\u201d\r\n<h3><strong>Gaining Understanding with GIS Analysis \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nYears earlier, in 2011, Okafor was a student in the first class of MOSTEC. Growing from student to mentor in 2014 and later an instructor in 2019, Okafor wanted to think beyond the networking and college readiness aspects of the MOSTEC program.\r\n\r\n\u201cI was grappling with limited time, and the remote nature of the program, I thought, \u2018Well, what's a technical skill that I feel confident in teaching, but also feel confident that they can comprehend?\u2019 And I thought about my GIS experience and how within a month I was turning around maps and dashboards for CEOs, so why can't a 16-year-old?\"\r\n\r\nHe wanted a part of the <em>Mapping Justice<\/em> course to be focused on GIS technology and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/capabilities\/spatial-analytics-data-science\/overview\">spatial analytics<\/a> because he saw the power of using those tools to explore systemic racism. He explored critical questions like \u201cCan GIS have a role in telling a story and working toward a solution?\u201d <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Core to the class is <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">facilitating<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> conversations around bias in data, responsibility in action, and the role race, power, and technology play in their lives.<\/span>\r\n\r\nMost of Okafor\u2019s students don\u2019t have experience using GIS, but after six weeks they are able to build interactive maps and apps to tackle topics of interest to them.\r\n<h3><strong>Community Passion Projects, Making an Impact<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIn the first week of the class, Okafor starts his students with an assignment called Everyday Spatial Analysis, where they look for applications of the technology. \u201cWhere do you see data and space connected, and where are those implications?\u201d Okafor asks his students. \u201cIs it a map on the news around COVID rates? Is it an infographic? A clickbait on Instagram about comparing different states?\u201d\r\n\r\nOkafor knows students are really learning when they get excited about the subject area. He tries to connect them with issues they care about, help them identify what they want to change, and see how that change can happen.\r\n\r\nStudents begin their class projects by thinking about a big idea, then they are paired up based on their ideas. They find data and take a closer look at issues impacting their communities such as transportation inequity, climate change, transgender discrimination, food access, gentrification, the digital divide, education disparities, and more.\r\n\r\nWhile students are working and scoping their projects, they are learning how to use GIS for the first time. This includes figuring out how to pull data, how to make a story map, and what story they want to share in an interactive and meaningful way.\r\n\r\nOkafor says he enjoys seeing the students\u2019 progress through the course, \u201cstarting from zero to dashboard, maps and web apps in less than six weeks.\u201d"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":481602,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/collections\/bbcb9fe9399246119255d26360aaccd3?item=7"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":481752,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/collections\/bbcb9fe9399246119255d26360aaccd3?item=3"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":481762,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/collections\/bbcb9fe9399246119255d26360aaccd3?item=6"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":481772,"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/collections\/bbcb9fe9399246119255d26360aaccd3?item=8"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<h3><strong>Leaning into Life Experiences <\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe high school students who participate in the <em>Mapping Justice<\/em> course come from all parts of the United States, and many come from underserved communities. They have grown up in a world saturated with technology, data, and analysis\u2014without realizing the role <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/location-intelligence\">location intelligence<\/a> plays in making sense of it. Now that they are armed with GIS tools and skills, they are shaping their own narratives for how to impact change.\r\n\r\nOkafor thinks that location intelligence gives students an advantage. \u201cWe\u2019re born into identities, into networks, into communities that will shape us, but we\u2019ll be forever shaped by that\u2014how we continue to present in the world is always going to be affected by that,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nIn teaching the powerful analytical capabilities of GIS, Okafor encourages his students to lean into their own experiences and cultural backgrounds, especially when thinking about their research and data design. This method of teaching, combined with project-based learning, allows the students to gain a deeper understanding and draw their own conclusions.\r\n\r\nBeyond spatial awareness, Okafor says the <em>Mapping Justice<\/em> course \u201cbrings that quantitative nature to social problems that sometimes can be missing from leaders\u2019 decision-making.\u201d\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nLearn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-solutions\/local-government\/social-equity-analysis-solution-released\/\">Esri's Social Equity Analysis Solution<\/a>.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;"}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mapping Justice: Teens Apply Geospatial Tools to Equity Issues<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Students from across the country take an online Mapping Justice course at MIT, gaining GIS skills and exploring 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