Racial Equity
Create and sustain positive change with GIS
Advance racial equity, social justice, and sustainable, inclusive development
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.
GIS supports racial equity and social justice initiatives
Discover how GIS solutions foster greater understanding and empower equitable action.
- Engage communities
- Map and analyze equity
- Operationalize racial equity
- Manage performance
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.
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.
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.
Resources
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.
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.
Industry blog
Nonprofit Technology Conference 2021 and GIS
Explore highlights from the Nonprofit Technology Conference to see how mapping, location data, and analytics are used to address racial equality and social justice and support food security.
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.
Podcast
Supporting Water Justice for Indigenous People
Dr. Kelsey Leonard, assistant professor at the University of Waterloo and citizen of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, explains how the combination of technology and tradition helps safeguard water rights for indigenous communities.
ArcGIS StoryMaps
GIS for Racial Equity & Justice
Location intelligence can help build a more equitable world. Learn how mapping and GIS can provide insight into patterns of inequality and bring communities together around a common understanding to drive change.
ArcNews
Putting Indigenous Place-Names and Languages Back on Maps
Existing GIS ecosystems need to be designed in ways that support Indigenous data sovereignty and visibility—for the benefit of all.
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.
Get GIS help from Esri to address inequity
For urgent GIS help responding to racial inequity, request support from Esri's Disaster Response Program.
Esri Nonprofit Organization Program
The nonprofit program provides access to the tools you need to bring location intelligence to your organization.