While contemplating what Abramovich wanted to do for the next 25 years of her life-having had some success as an architect-she got a job at the Center for Urban Studies at University at Buffalo (UB). The new iteration of the 2022 equity index includes a core group that works in consultation with city departments and partner agencies. For instance, the 2020 equity index team had input from strategic manager Jacques Colon, strategic initiative coordinator Bucoda Warren, and IT GIS supervisor Christina Chelf. “We are a team, and each member has a different area of expertise,” Abramovich said. The foundational architect was then-senior policy analyst Alison Beason who sparked senior GIS analyst Adriana Abramovich’s passion for data-driven analysis of inequalities. The group behind the equity index first focused on getting the facts right about the role of historical policies in shaping the city’s equity landscape. They’re targeting the areas of the city that have historically been disinvested in, where crashes or crime might be impacted by a lack of streetlights.”īucoda Warren Committed to Getting the Numbers Right “By combining the equity index with data they already collect, they’ve reprioritized their list of work to consider past inequities as a factor of new investment. “They only have the budget to complete a certain number of streetlights every year,” Warren said. When the city started to replace streetlights, for example, the equity index guided the public works department to see how specific neighborhoods that have lagged in repairs are experiencing more crime. The map and its underlying data give the city council guidance to see and repair the harm done by systemic racism. Indicators include such things as crime, home value, affordable housing, school quality, amount of green space, and access to recreation and transit. There are 29 key indicators within five determinant categories of livability, education, environmental health, economy, and accessibility. This practice prevented two-thirds of Tacoma's residents from buying or building a home. Tacoma is one of many cities in the US that still suffers from the 1930s policy of redlining, which assigned high loan risk to communities of color. These topics were analyzed with geographic information system (GIS) technology to show patterns and represent inequities on a map. The tool examines five categories of inequity that include livability, education, environmental health, economic opportunity, and accessibility. The Tacoma Equity Index measures entrenched economic problems, housing needs, and social justice issues. The city first quantified the barriers people face and then mapped communities where disinvestment has led to lower quality of life. Tacoma’s program is moving forward with precision. Many cities in the US face ongoing impacts of systemic racism, but not enough have examined the underlying issues. Tacoma mayor Victoria Woodards wants to make her city antiracist, a goal that’s now reflected in the Heal the Heart of Tacoma campaign. GIS was used to aggregate the data to create the Equity Index, and anyone can use GIS to add the equity layer and perform their own analysis.Public works managers could see how reprioritizing project sequences could significantly impact residents’ quality of life.City planners in Tacoma conducted spatial analysis to see the impacts of past discriminatory practices that can still be seen on a map.The Tacoma Equity Index provides the data and details the city needs to assess and address inequalities.
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