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Racial Equity and Social Justice

Create and sustain positive change with GIS

Advance racial equity, social justice, and sustainable, inclusive development

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Map and better understand racial inequity

Organizations and individuals are leveraging the power of GIS to understand racial equity in communities and make more equitable decisions. GIS provides insight into patterns of inequality and can provide common understanding across communities to affect positive change.

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GIS supports racial equity and social justice initiatives

Discover how GIS solutions foster greater understanding and empower equitable action.

Engage communities and partners

Community engagement, outreach, and collaboration are critical to bringing communities together around issues of racial equity and social justice. Communities and their partner organizations shape the maps that tell their story. GIS makes maps easier to create and share, establishing a common understanding to take appropriate action.

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Map and analyze inequities to gain insights

Visualizing the locations of marginalized populations, barriers to equality, and patterns of inequitable action in a GIS solution reveals the far-reaching impacts of policies and practices. Leveraging maps and the results of analyses empowers organizations and communities to create actionable plans and model impacts of positive change.

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Operationalize racial equity best practices

Design and plan the equitable allocation and distribution of resources to alleviate burdens on disadvantaged communities. Enhance the delivery of services by using maps and spatial analysis. Collect the right location, demographic, and operational data needed to support racial equity.

Track and measure the impact of actions

Manage and analyze the performance of initiatives, services, and related data to understand and measure their impact. Use maps and dashboards to recognize opportunities to increase equity in your community.

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Resources

Racial Equity GIS Hub

Visit the Racial Equity GIS Hub to find relevant data layers, user examples, training, solutions, and other resources to help in your work for racial equity.

Visit the racial equity hub

Social Equity Analysis Solution

Organizations can use this solution to understand community conditions and evaluate actions for more equitable outcomes.

Explore the solution

Police Transparency solution

The Police Transparency solution can be used to share information and communicate engagement efforts that build trust with the general public and community stakeholders.

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Apply the racial equity workflow using ArcGIS

Discover how ArcGIS can play a significant role in helping organizations achieve racial equity by applying the racial equity workflow.

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Stories of GIS for equity and social justice

Learn how others are already using GIS and mapping with a racial equity lens to advance social justice.

  • Intersecting highways with multiple overpasses in downtown Los Angeles, California
    Esri Blog

    CalEnviroScreen: A Geographic Approach to Environmental Justice

    Combining data related to pollution and people, a new online map explores California from an environmental justice perspective.

  • A map of South Carolina that shows total population change by neighborhood from 2010 to 2020 with green dots that represent an increase and yellow dots that represent a decrease
    Article

    City of Charleston unveils racial equity tool

    The City of Charleston used ArcGIS StoryMaps to create an interactive racial equity tool that contains visual representations of historic inequities.

  • A concentration map of the US in gray and black with clustered points in red and blue
    Podcast

    A publisher’s journey using tech and geography

    Paulette Brown-Hinds, founder of Voice Media Ventures and publisher of Black Voice News, explains how geospatial technology brings focus to equity and social justice issues.

  • Esri Blog

    For Equity and Environmental Justice, USC’s Manuel Pastor Knows Maps’ Power

    Manuel Pastor, professor and director of the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California (USC), uses maps in his latest book to observe stark population shifts in a Los Angeles neighborhood.

  • ArcGIS Blog

    Juneteenth 2021: Reflections and Resources

    Explore key highlights from Esri’s Racial Equity Initiative and Hub, which was created in 2020 to provide GIS resources for those working to advance racial equity and social justice worldwide.

  • Ebook

    Creating an Environment for Racial Equity and Social Justice

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

  • User story

    Tacoma Addresses Affordable Housing using GIS

    The city of Tacoma, Washington, used a geospatial approach in their strategic planning process to address inadequate housing supply and increase housing affordability for their community.

  • Esri Blog

    Territorial Empathy Maps Racial Inequality to Take Action

    Territorial Empathy applies location intelligence to identify outcomes linked to racial inequality in order to solve crises and create empathy.

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Racial Equity and Social Justice Champions in GIS

Explore the inspiring work and stories of leaders who are advancing racial equity, social justice, and sustainable, inclusive development with GIS.

Learn about their work
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Esri Community

Join others in the GIS for Equity and Social Justice community to connect, collaborate, and share best practices on these topics. Ask questions or share your expertise.

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