Meet the 2023 Cohort
The Equitable Development Data Insight Training Initiative is excited to announce our 2023 cohort. Six organizations in small and mid-sized cities in the U.S. and Canada will receive free personalized data analysis and storytelling training to meet their project’s goals. The cohort’s areas of focus include a range of equitable development topics, from environmental justice to housing affordability, and more.
Groundwork Bridgeport
Location:
Bridgeport, CT
Area(s) of Equitable Development:
Environmental justice
Project:
Groundwork Bridgeport aims to increase tree equity in Bridgeport, CT, focusing on neighborhoods with lower tree coverage, such as the East Side. Through their Adopt-A-Tree program and volunteer tree planting programs, they educate the community about the health, environmental, and civic benefits of trees.
The Community Builders
Location:
Worcester, MA
Area(s) of Equitable Development:
Housing affordability, Culture and history, Transportation accessibility
Project:
The Community Builders aim to assess the impacts of the Community Life resident services program on their affordable residences across the U.S. by reviewing development, property management, and service data. The Plumley Village site in Worcester, MA, will be used as a case study for this assessment.
Business High Point
Chamber of Commerce
Location:
High Point, NC
Area(s) of Equitable Development:
Capacity building, Economic opportunity, Culture and history
Project:
The Business High Point Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Change Often LLC, aim to assess two initiatives: Thrive High Point, a program that helps Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals (SEDI) entrepreneurs scale their businesses, access capital, and find retail space; and Shop on Washington, an initiative to reinvest in brick-and-mortar businesses along Washington Street in High Point, NC.
Cone Health Foundation in partnership with the City of Greensboro
Location:
Greensboro, NC
Area(s) of Equitable Development:
Capacity building, Economic opportunity, Culture and history
Project:
This project is a partnership between the City of Greensboro and The Cone Health Foundation. Together, they aim to support health and upward economic mobility in low-wealth neighborhoods, such as East Greensboro, and to better communicate data about these topics to the public.
City of Albuquerque,
Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency
Location:
Albuquerque, NM
Area(s) of Equitable Development:
Economic opportunity, Housing affordability, Culture and history
Project:
The City of Albuquerque Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency is redeveloping a 7-mile rail corridor in Downtown Albuquerque into an urban trail, focusing on stimulating economic, cultural, and recreational development in the surrounding neighborhoods, while also implementing anti-displacement strategies. The City aims to build a data dashboard to improve data accessibility and communication between the City and residents.
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Location:
Wood Buffalo, AB, Canada
Area(s) of Equitable Development:
Housing affordability
Project:
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo aims to assess and understand the issue of housing affordability in their region, addressing the unique housing needs of their urban and rural populations.
Judging panel
The successful organizations for the EDDIT 2023 cohort were selected based on their project’s alignment with equitable development, the availability of data to analyze, and the capacity of their team. Applicants were carefully evaluated by our judging panel and interviewed by the EDDIT team.
Alison Goebel
Alison Goebel is Executive Director of the Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC). She has been with GOPC since 2010 and has held a number of positions within the organization during that time. Today, Goebel is responsible for charting GOPC’s strategic direction, directing the research, advocacy, and outreach teams, and securing resources for this work.
Elsie Harper-Anderson
Dr. Elsie Harper-Anderson is an Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Harper-Anderson’s research examines the impact of macroeconomic transformation on regional economies and urban labor markets with a focus on social equity and sustainability concerns.
Kathryn Pettit
Kathryn Pettit is a principal research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute, where her research focuses on neighborhood change and how communities use data for more effective and equitable decision-making. She is currently serving as the Interim Vice President leading the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy.
Libby Schaaf
Libby Schaaf was born and raised in Oakland, where she served as 50th Mayor from 2015-2023. During her tenure, Oakland experienced its greatest housing building boom this century and its lowest 5-year period of gun violence on record. Her “17K/17K Housing Plan” doubled Oakland’s affordable housing production, increased tenant protections for more than 36,000 low-income Oaklanders, and created nearly 20,000 new homes. She is currently a lecturer at UC Berkeley and fellow at Harvard.
Manuel Pastor
Dr. Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He currently directs the Equity Research Institute at USC. Pastor holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC.
Satya Rhodes-Conway
Satya Rhodes-Conway is the 58th Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin. She has extensive experience in local policy and practice, having worked with mayors across the country for over a decade, and serving three terms on the Madison Common Council. Elected in 2019, she is the city’s second female mayor and the first out LGBTQ person to serve as Mayor of Madison.
News about the 2024 Cohort
Preliminary organizations have been selected for the 2024 cohort. Additional organizations may be added. To stay in touch about future opportunities and next steps for the 2024 cohort, please join our mailing list.
Join our contact list
Please join our contact list to stay up-to-date with the EDDIT Initiative and to receive announcements about future EDDIT cohorts.
