{"id":579643,"date":"2025-10-24T06:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T06:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=579643"},"modified":"2025-10-24T20:13:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T20:13:14","slug":"what-we-learned-in-minneapolis-five-takeaways-from-esris-equity-seminar","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/what-we-learned-in-minneapolis-five-takeaways-from-esris-equity-seminar","title":{"rendered":"What We Learned in Minneapolis: Five Takeaways from Esri&#8217;s Equity Seminar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Esri hosted our second Equity and Social Justice Seminar in Minneapolis on October 9\u2014a full-day, in-person event that offered a unique opportunity to share best practices, reflect on lessons learned, and explore the latest Esri tools and solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">The event convened leaders from state government, nonprofits, and advocacy organizations to explore how GIS can advance equity and economic mobility. Presenters shared practical applications\u2014from affordable housing and tax credit outreach to park equity and youth training\u2014demonstrating how spatial data empowers communities and drives inclusive policy. The seminar emphasized collaboration, community expertise, and the importance of accessible tools and language in equity work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Through powerful presentations and real-world examples, five key themes emerged, highlighting the role of collaboration, lived experience, data depth, inclusive engagement, and practical tools in advancing equity and economic mobility.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\"><strong>1. Collaboration and Partnership Are Key<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Every speaker emphasized the importance of cross-departmental collaboration and the power of public-private partnerships in advancing equity. Examples included:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Esri Professional Services: Raynah Kamau, Geo Equity Lead, shared how her team has worked with over 40 organizations nationwide to develop equity strategies tailored to their missions.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The State of Minnesota\u2019s Chief Equity Officer, Ashley Oolman, Geospatial Information Officer, Alison Slaats and GIS Supervisor, Sally Wakefield emphasized their work with community engagement practitioners.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Frank Romo, CEO of Romo GIS, and his collaborations with cities and schools.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dale Watts, GIS Project Manager from the Trust for Public Land, who has helped gather data for over 100 cities across the country.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Equity work cannot happen in isolation\u2014it thrives on shared effort.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\"><strong>2. A Shared Language for Complex Issues: Behind Every Data Point is a Lived Experience<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">GIS can serve as a common language for addressing multifaceted equity challenges. However, it\u2019s essential to recognize that lived experiences reveal inequities every day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Rather than centering conversations solely on emotion, Ashley Oolman encouraged a shift toward actionable facts\u2014those we aim to change. She posed a critical question: How can we use lived experiences to understand inequities? These challenges aren\u2019t abstract; they affect communities in every state.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Ashley&nbsp;illustrated this by connecting asthma to air quality. People with asthma, like myself, rely heavily on asthmas medication such as inhalers and nebulizer machines, often since childhood, and are sensitive to changes in temperature, most commonly though people with asthma react to poor air quality. While individuals experience the effects of air pollution on a personal level, states collect air quality data layers, like those in <a href=\"https:\/\/livingatlas.arcgis.com\/en\/browse\/?q=air%20quality#q=air+quality&amp;d=2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World<\/a>, that can be leveraged to advocate for cleaner air and healthier communities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Ashley emphasized that lived experiences deepen our understanding of inequity and economic mobility. For example, access to electricity and water at home are foundational indicators. Individuals lacking these basic needs may not have the capacity to seek out programs that could help them. When survival is the priority, engagement becomes difficult. This is where state and local governments can intervene\u2014and GIS can help visualize these lived realities.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Beyond visualization, GIS is a powerful tool for advocacy, especially in addressing basic needs and the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities. GIS offers a shared language that could be used in community engagement. GIS excites her because it offers practical tools to help communities move from historically disadvantaged conditions toward better outcomes. She underscored that public sector leaders have a responsibility to drive this change.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-3-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-579644\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-3-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-3-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-3-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-3.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ashley Oolman, Chief Equity Officer, and Alison Slaats, Geospatial Information Officer, present on behalf of the State of Minnesota.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\"><strong>3. Single Metrics Can Mislead\u2014Equity Demands a Deeper Dive<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Alison Slaats and Sally Wakefield showcased the Minnesota&#8217;s Executive Briefing Tool\u2014a curated map portfolio designed to better understand conditions affecting children, youth, families, climate, and workforce development across the state.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">One example involved using GIS to address low uptake of the child tax credit. Although many residents were eligible, they weren\u2019t applying\u2014often because they didn\u2019t know they qualified. GIS enabled a targeted community engagement campaign to raise awareness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Similarly, Dale Watts from the Trust for Public Land pointed out that while Minneapolis residents may live within 10 minutes of a park, those parks might be unsafe, have limited hours, or lack accessibility. These examples underscore the need to enrich datasets when using GIS for policy decisions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Presenters urged attendees to ask themselves what other questions can we ask about equity, accessibility, and economic mobility?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-12-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-579645\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-12-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-12-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-12-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-12.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dale Watts, GIS Project Manager, presents on behalf of the Trust for Public Land.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\"><strong>4. Empowering Non-GIS Ambassadors<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Both Sally and Alison, along with Frank Romo, emphasized the importance of involving non-GIS professionals as ambassadors. The goal is to embed informed decision-making across entire organizations\u2014not just within GIS departments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Sally mentioned that Minnesota\u2019s 2024 GIS Day featured speakers who were equity practitioners without GIS backgrounds. Romo also trains students and partners with organizations to promote broader GIS adoption.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Additionally, Esri\u2019s Nonprofit Account Manager, Ariana Kim, shared details about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/nonprofit\/nonprofit-program\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Esri Nonprofit Program<\/a>, which allows certified 501(c)(3) organizations to join for just $100 per year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"659\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-9.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-579646\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-9.jpg 659w, https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Esri-Minneapolis-Seminar-Photo-9-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 659px) 100vw, 659px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Frank Romo, CEO of Romo GIS, presents his economic mobility work with cities and schools.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\"><strong>5. Esri Provides the Tools You Need to Achieve Economic Mobility\/review title<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Esri offers a suite of tools designed to support equity initiatives. At the seminar, attendees explored Esri Professional Services for comprehensive geo-equity support, ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World layers, ArcGIS Business Analyst dashboards, and the Esri Social Equity Analysis solution for creating equity indexes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\">Esri\u2019s Economic Mobility framework, is anchored in four pillars:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Quality of Life<\/strong>: Enables targeted interventions to enhance overall well-being for residents.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Inclusive Infrastructure<\/strong>: Focuses on expanding access to public resources that create opportunities for advancement.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Civic Inclusion<\/strong>: Prioritizes transparency and accountability to strengthen community engagement.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Financial Stability<\/strong>: Highlights the importance of investing in the potential of disadvantaged populations to promote economic security.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\"><strong>Want to learn more about how others are achieving economic mobility with GIS?<\/strong> Download our latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/content\/dam\/esrisites\/en-us\/media\/brochures\/economic-mobility.pdf?appId=aemshell\">Economic Mobility brochure<\/a> and consider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/share-story\">submitting your story<\/a> to be included in our upcoming Esri Equity and Economic Mobility map booklet.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"undefined block-editor-paragraph\"><strong>Looking ahead to 2026?<\/strong> We are planning to continue our seminar series next year, hopefully in a city near you. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/corporate-equity\/community#equitysignup\">Stay updated by subscribing to our e-brief<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1082,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4132],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-579643","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-equity-and-social-justice"],"acf":[],"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>What We Learned in Minneapolis: Five Takeaways from Esri&#039;s Equity Seminar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/articles\/what-we-learned-in-minneapolis-five-takeaways-from-esris-equity-seminar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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Garcia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/SophiaGarcia_headshot-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/SophiaGarcia_headshot-150x150.jpg","caption":"Sophia Garcia"},"description":"Sophia Garcia is Esri\u2019s Lead Equity and Civic Nonprofits lead. Her work at the Dolores Huerta Foundation (DHF), a social justice nonprofit in California\u2019s Central Valley, laid the groundwork for institutionalizing Esri\u2019s Equity and mapping work. At DHF, Sophia worked with community organizations across California to pass legislation for more fair and equitable redistricting codified in AB 849 the Fair Maps Act. Sophia subsequently worked as a consultant with over one-hundred municipalities, including five of California\u2019s 10 largest cities, to implement the Fair Maps Act. Sophia\u2019s GIS career has been focused on participatory community GIS and implementing GIS with an equity lens. She is excited to continue working with users to understand and apply GIS and geospatial thinking to equity issues.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/goingbeyondgreen\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sophiagarcia\/"],"jobTitle":"Industry Solutions Specialist for Equity and Civic Nonprofits","worksFor":"Esri","url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/author\/sop13093esri-com"}]}},"text_date":"October 24, 2025","author_name":"Sophia Garcia","author_page":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/author\/sop13093esri-com","custom_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Minneapolis-Equity-Seminar-Blog-Banner-1920-x-1080-2.png","primary_product":false,"tag_data":[],"category_data":[{"term_id":4132,"name":"Equity and Social Justice","slug":"equity-and-social-justice","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":4132,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":14,"filter":"raw"}],"product_data":{"errors":{"invalid_taxonomy":["Invalid taxonomy."]},"error_data":[]},"primary_product_link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/","short_description":"Explore the five key themes for equity and economic mobility that emerged from Esri's latest seminar.","image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/app\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Minneapolis-Equity-Seminar-Blog-Banner-v2-826-x-465.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/579643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/579643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/industries\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}