National Equity Atlas: April Update

Dear Equity Atlas users,

Since we launched the Atlas in October 2014, we have wanted to include data that better describes the incredible diversity within broad racial/ethnic groups and challenges the “model minority” myth that impedes action and progress toward racial equity and inclusive growth.

We are excited to be taking a first step toward that goal by adding two new breakdowns to our “Detailed race/ethnicity” indicator. Now, when you go to that indicator, you can select “By ancestry” and see more detailed breakdowns of the Asian, Black, Latino, Native American, and White populations (e.g. Filipino, Jamaican, Puerto Rican). You can also select “By nativity and ancestry” to get a breakdown of the share of each group who are immigrants versus U.S.-born.

The below screenshots show the type of data that is now available. Note that we share data for any given group if there are at least 100 survey respondents. To provide some more detailed data for smaller areas, we also created broader geographic categories (e.g. South Asian, Southeast Asian, East Asian, Pacific Islander) that combine a number of ancestries. For a large, diverse region like Los Angeles, you will get data for many ancestry categories, while for a smaller, less diverse region like Charleston, you will see fewer of the detailed ancestry categories.

We hope you enjoy digging into the data! Here is a blog post highlighting some takeaways from the new data. In a few weeks (on May 23), we will be adding these more detailed racial/ethnic breakdowns to several of our economic opportunity indicators, including:

·       Unemployment

·       Wages: Median

·       Wages: $15/hour

·       Disconnected Youth

·       Educational Levels

·       Homeownership

Also, please let us know if you would like to receive more information about how to participate in the data release (including a social media toolkit and other support for writing op-eds, blog posts, etc.). Email Abigail Langston at abigail@policylink.org to sign up.

Thank you!

 

The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)