Local Government

Racial equity tools for cities and counties

Working to achieve racial equity in city and county government

Cities, counties, and regions worldwide are addressing institutional racism to ensure opportunities for all their constituents—and geography is critical to the solution. ArcGIS can help in creating a future where race and place no longer shape experiences and outcomes.

Map and analyze inequities

Apply a racial equity lens through maps and spatial analysis to reveal and understand inequities in experiences and outcomes in your community.

Operationalize racial justice best practices

Use maps, spatial analysis, and data to design, plan, and deliver equitable resource allocations that alleviate burdens on communities of color.

Manage performance for racial equity

Leverage decision-making tools to visualize racial inequities at a glance to adapt strategies and operations accordingly.

Racial equity and inclusion in local government services

Apply a racial equity lens
Healthy and affordable food
Quality education for all
Transparency in policing

Guide racial equity in programs and services

Apply a racial equity lens to city and county programs, services, and initiatives by using maps, spatial analysis, and dashboards to ensure equitable experiences and outcomes for communities of color. Measure results, set targets, and engage communities for maximum impact.

Young Black people sitting outdoors working on a community project

Ensure access to healthy and affordable food

Reveal gaps in access to affordable, healthy food for communities of color. Use maps and spatial analysis to visualize racial inequities where supermarkets and convenience stores lack produce and other nutritious food, and employ ground truth data to engage communities. Explore the potential impact of policy changes, and track progress in your city or county.

Address racial inequities in education

Identify racial inequities in access to broadband, pre-K, and high-quality K–12 education and design more equitable experiences. Maps and spatially enabled tools for community engagement can provide insight into disparities and inform better decisions. Use map-centric dashboards to assess the impact of your efforts to ensure that all families in your community are thriving.

Two students sitting together, working on a school assignment

Create transparency in policing

Maps and spatially enabled tools can help bring together police agencies and the communities they serve to better understand, communicate, and engage on community-wide issues. Their use also allows agencies to increase trust within the community by providing greater transparency of activities, data collection, and how police-community initiatives are designed and performing.

A police officer giving a child a high-five

Datasets to help local governments further racial equity and social justice

Map of the US with blocks shown in different colors

Home ownership

Explore homeownership rates by race to drive action based on equitable housing opportunity.

View maps and data

Map of the US with red and blue dots of varying sizes

Child poverty

Compare overall child poverty rates with the child poverty rate for Black children to guide action based on equitable investments.

View maps and data

Map of the northeastern US with blocks in various colors

Life expectancy

Explore maps of life expectancy by race to identify inequities and drive action to promote health equity.

View maps and data

Map of the west coast of the US with areas shown in red and green

Environmental pollution

Explore where communities of color may be unduly burdened by environmental pollution to help guide policy making.

View maps and data

Resources

A density map of Cook and DuPage counties in Illinois, with higher density in green and lower density in blue

ebook

Creating an environment for racial equity

Explore geographic approaches that state and local governments can use to address systemic racism and social injustices in their communities.

Access the ebook

A smiling police officer standing outside the driver’s side door of a police car

Learn ArcGIS

Getting started with Police Transparency

Explore the functionality and use cases of the Police Transparency solution in ArcGIS.

Explore the learning path

A grayscale map of a city near a river with points of interest marked in red, yellow, and green dots

Learn ArcGIS

Examine racial inequities in unsolved murder cases

In this lesson, identify American cities where unsolved homicides are most prevalent and learn strategies for analyzing social and racial equity.

Explore the learning path

A row of two-story city storefronts with hanging lights and lampposts illuminating the street

ArcGIS Solutions

Business Inclusion Solution Released

The Business Inclusion solution can help support businesses owned by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), women, and veterans.

Explore the solution

Workforce diversity dashboard showing current statistics on one company's diversity metrics

ArcGIS Solutions

Racial Equity Community solution

Local governments can use this solution to communicate progress on racial equity initiatives to the general public and other stakeholders.

Explore the equity solution

Image of a law enforcement officer with his vehicle

ArcGIS Solutions

Police Transparency solution

The Police Transparency solution shares information and communicates engagement to build trust with the public and community stakeholders.

Read about the solution

Three people looking at their work on a computer

Webinar series

Advancing racial equity

In this three-part webinar series, Esri professionals address how governments can leverage GIS for a more equitable world.

Access the webinar series

Podcast

Innovating city government using GIS technology

The City of San Diego is using the power of map-based data visualization to contextualize social justice issues and inform civic decision-making.

Listen to the podcast

Article

Asheville uses GIS to advance racial equity

Government officials in Asheville, North Carolina, are using GIS to understand and address historical inequities.

Read the article

Esri Blog

Austin maps trees to tackle social inequities

Trees provide valuable services to residents of Austin, Texas. Using maps, the city is working to spread the benefits of trees widely and equitably.

Go to the blog

User story

Tacoma addresses affordable housing using GIS

The city of Tacoma, Washington, used a geospatial approach to address inadequate housing supply and increase affordable housing for their community.

Explore the user story

Addressing racial inequities

King County, Washington

Geography Brings Equity and Social Justice into Focus in King County

Read the blog

Addressing racial inequities

Oakland, California

Maps Show the Real Picture of Race and Equity in Oakland

Read the blog

Get GIS help from Esri to address inequity

For urgent GIS help responding to racial inequity, request support from Esri's Disaster Response Program.

Request response assistance

Esri Nonprofit Organization Program

The nonprofit program provides access to the tools you need to bring location intelligence to your organization.

Request help for nonprofits

Contact sales

Fill out this form, and we will contact you to help your government organization address racial inequity with GIS.