Racial & Social Equity Impact Assessment

Governments seek to make equitable investments aligned with the severity of needs in their jurisdiction. To begin, they must understand the community conditions, assets, and outcomes that impact various demographic groups. GIS technology helps organizations make assessments about where needs are greatest to plan more equitable and just investments.

GIS supports racial equity impact assessments

Governments are seeking to eliminate inequities on the basis of race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disability status, and more. Discover how GIS solutions foster greater understanding and empower equitable action.

Explore community conditions
Evaluate benefits and burdens
Allocate resources equitably
Measure progress over time
Engage communities and partners

Understand community conditions and assets

Equity leaders want to understand where community condition rates like health outcomes and internet access may be high or low so programs and investments can be adjusted when and where appropriate. GIS helps equity analysts load asset, condition, or outcome data; aggregate it into geographic reporting areas; calculate a community condition rate, and create an equity index for a given geography.

A green map of Colorado that displays the social equity population data of where Black residents live

Evaluate benefits and burdens for specific populations

Governments need to know where population groups are located across their jurisdictions to understand whether access to community resources is equitable. Ready-to-use demographic information and spatial analysis tools help analysts perform racial and social equity impact assessments to evaluate where resources are abundant or lacking for specific racial and ethnic groups.

A blue and green map of Colorado focusing on the Denver area that displays social equity analysis results

Reallocate resources for more equitable outcomes

Governments need data-driven methods to evaluate candidate sites for new resource investments intended to address inequities. GIS-based social equity analysis tools can help organizations conduct equity impact assessments of proposed interventions to ensure limited resources have the greatest impact.

A map of Denver in shades of blue under red and yellow dots indicating social analysis of unspecified community assets

Measure progress toward equity goals over time

It is crucial for leaders of equity initiatives to set goals and measure progress over time. GIS solutions help leaders routinely conduct equity impact analyses that monitor changing community assets and conditions to evaluate whether their actions are contributing to more equitable outcomes and communities.

A screenshot of a map of Los Angeles indicating with shades of green to grey, analysis of unspecified data in 2020

Engage communities and partners

Community engagement, outreach, and collaboration are crucial to informed decision-making for equitable outcomes. GIS solutions allow users to share analysis results in engaging maps and interactive visualizations, making it easier for stakeholders to understand where equitable or inequitable conditions exist to propose action.