1. 2010 SOUTHEASTERN COLLOQUIUM ON RACIAL INEQUALITY AND POVERTY
GIS MAPPING
IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL
EQUITY AND ADVOCACY
Samir Gambhir
Senior Research Associate (GIS)
Gambhir.2@osu.edu
Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity
The Ohio State University

2. About Kirwan Institute
2
 Multidisciplinary applied research
institute
 Our mission is to expand opportunity
for all, especially for our most
marginalized communities
 Founded in 2003 by john powell

3. About Our Work
3
 Emphasis on how systems work to produce inequity
 How do multiple issues interact to either depress or uplift certain
populations or communities?
 What can we do to “strategically intervene” and improve
outcomes for marginalized communities
 Extensive use of GIS/mapping in our work
 Inequity has a geographic footprint
 Leverage points sometimes geographic in scope
 Maps powerful for tools for
 Research
 Designing policy/programming
 Communicating research/issues to the public and other stakeholders

4. 4 Overview
 GIS, its use and effectiveness
 Use of mapping in our work
 Opportunity mapping: Assumptions, methodology
and examples
 Applications and Impact

5. Introduction
5
 What is GIS?
 "A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer-based tool for
mapping and analyzing things that exist and events that happen on earth.
GIS technology integrates common database operations such as query
and statistical analysis with the unique visualization and geographic
analysis benefits offered by maps."
 “GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data
in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of
maps, globes, reports, and charts.”
 “A GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at
your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared.”
 Bing maps, Google Earth, GPS
Source: Environmental Systems Research Institute

6. Why use maps?
6
Maps are incredibly efficient
 compacting volumes of data
 ability to convey information in
seconds
 tell a story or solve a problem

7. Why is visual information important?
7
 A picture is worth a thousand words
 “People are able to look at the information based
on where they live or areas they are familiar with
and obtain a better understating”

8. Why are maps effective?
8
 Provide spatial reference
 “People feel like they understand maps. Nobody
will give you feedback on regression analysis”
 Identifying strategic intervention points
 Shared sense of value; builds mutual trust

9. Research project
9
 In collaboration with
 The Opportunity Agenda
 Joint Center for Political
and Economic Studies
http://opportunityagenda.org/mapping

10. Findings
10
 Maps must be clear and easy to comprehend
 Maps work best when framed to convey specific
advocacy issues
 Mapping is
 powerful in identifying systemic community-based
disadvantage and spatial racialization
 very effective at identifying strategic intervention points
 a good entry point for uniting diverse coalitions or
stakeholders

11. Space and Social Equity
11
 Racial and social inequity often manifest as spatial inequity
 Local issues tend have a regional scope and variation
e.g. school performance, housing vacancy
 Maps are naturally the best tools to display this spatial phenomena
 Maps give us the opportunity to look at our entire regions or states
 Informing people about an issue at a scale they may not usually think of
 linking communities sharing similar problems

12. Using Maps for Advocacy
12
 In our work we see mapping as
serving these primary advocacy goals
 Analysis
 Existing
conditions, spatial trends, scenarios,
optimization etc.
 Storytelling
A narrative
 Combination

13. Analytical Examples
13
 Are minority businesses located in areas of economic
opportunity? (Cleveland)
 Are hospital investments benefiting communities of
color? (Columbus)
 Are job growth areas connected to transit? (Baltimore)
 What is the impact of stimulus money investment on job
creation? (Florida)

14. MBE and Projected Job Change 2000-2030
14

15. Health equity
research
15
Hospital Investments
and African
American
neighborhoods
Columbus

16. Recent Job Growth 98-02 and Public Transit
in the Baltimore Region Spatial Mismatch
16
Job Growth & Public
Transit in Baltimore
Percent Change
in Jobs
Job Loss
0-5
5 - 15
15 - 30
30 - 66.6

17. ARRA Investments
17
Stimulus investments
and Job creation in
Orlando MSA, FL

18. Narratives Examples
18
 Subsidized housing policy is reinforcing segregation
(Baltimore)
 Foreclosures in African American neighborhoods are
due to subprime lending patterns (Cleveland)
 Vacant property problems are spreading, vacant
property challenges are not just an inner city
problem (Detroit)
 What if Montclair, NJ schools returned to
neighborhood school system?

19. Conditions in
Baltimore
19
 Subsidized housing
opportunities in
Baltimore are
generally clustered c
in the region’s
predominately
African American
neighborhoods

20. Race and Foreclosure (Cleveland MSA)
(Note: Not one of our maps)
20

21. Race and Subprime Lending (Cleveland MSA)
(Note: Not one of our maps)
21
Maps: Produced and adapted from Charles Bromley, SAGES
Presidential Fellow, Case Western University

22. Time and Space: Vacant Land Problem in Detroit
N
22
Growth of Vacant Housing Legend: W E
in Detroit 1970-2000 S
City of Detroit % of Homes Vacant
(% Vacant Housing Highways 0-3
in 1970 and 2000) Counties 3 - 10
10 - 15
Prepared by: Kirwan Institute
Source Data: U.S. Census Bureau 15 - 20
20 - 57.6
% Vacant % Vacant
1970 2000
8 0 8 16 Miles

23. Montclair School District, NJ

24. Opportunity Mapping:
Combining Analysis with a Strong Narrative
24
 Research tool to
 understand the dynamics of “opportunity” within
metropolitan areas
 illustrate where opportunity rich communities exist (and
assess who has access to these communities)
 understand what needs to be remedied in opportunity poor
communities
 Based on Kirwan Institute’s “Communities of
Opportunity” framework

25. The Communities of Opportunity Approach
25
 Everyone should have fair access to the critical
opportunity structures needed to succeed in life.
 Low Opportunity neighborhoods limit the
development of human capital.
 A Community of Opportunity approach can develop
pathways that result in increased social and economic
health, benefiting everyone.

26. The Communities of Opportunity Primer
26

27. Opportunity Matters: Space, Place, and Life
Outcomes
27
 “Opportunity” is a situation or condition that places individuals in a
position to be more likely to succeed or excel.
 Opportunity structures are critical to opening pathways to success:
 High-quality education
 Healthy and safe environment
 Stable housing
 Sustainable employment
 Political empowerment
 Outlets for wealth-building
 Positive social networks

28. Space and Opportunity
28
28

29. Redlining maps (Hartford, CT)
29

30. 30
Some people ride the “Up” Others have to run up the
escalator to reach opportunity. “Down” escalator to get there.

31. Opportunities Affordable
Lead to Equity housing frees up
money for
transportation
Well-educated
children will Increased access
benefit in the
employment arena to jobs
as adults
Higher income allows
you to provide better A better job
educational provides more
opportunities for your income
31 children

32. Mapping Opportunity:
32
Why and How
 The Communities of Opportunity framework is inherently
spatial
 Inequality has a geographic footprint
 Maps can visually track the history and presence of discriminatory and
exclusionary policies that spatially segregate people
 Identifying places with gaps in opportunity can help direct future investment
and identify structures which impede access to opportunity
 The model uses state-of-the-art GIS and extensive data sets to
analyze the distribution of opportunity in our metro regions

33. Opportunity Mapping Model
33
 A refined model to depict spatial pattern of
opportunity
 Identifying indicators as proxy for opportunity
 Supported by social science literature
 Data easily available
 Index based approach compresses multi-factors to an index
 Model is a good communications tool to work with
communities

34. Opportunity Mapping Booklet
34

35. Mapping Communities of Opportunity:
Methods and Indicators
35
 How do you map opportunity?
 Data representing community conditions is gathered for neighborhood
(census tracts) across the state or region
 Aggregated to the Census Tract level
 Analyzed to create a comprehensive opportunity index for the region
 The opportunity index is then mapped and census tracts are broken into
quintiles based on their opportunity score
 Very Low, Low, Moderate, High, Very High

36. 36 Example
OPPORTUNITY MAPPING FOR
ATLANTA METROPOLITAN REGION

37. Education Indicators
37
 Adult Education Attainment
 Neighborhood School Poverty
 Math and Reading Test Scores for Neighborhood
Schools
 Teacher Qualifications

38. Education Opportunity Map
38

39. Economic Indicators
39
 Unemployment Rates
 Population on Public Assistance
 Proximity to Employment
 Economic Climate (Job Change)
 Business Climate (Business Creation)

40. 40

41. Housing and Neighborhood Indicators
41
 Housing Vacancy Rates
 Poverty rates
 Crime Rates
 Home Ownership
 Foreclosures
 Property Appreciation
 Proximity to Toxic Waste Sites

42. 42

43. Creating the Composite Opportunity Map
43
Education Economic Housing & Final
Opportunity Opportunity Neighborhood Opportunity
Score Score Score Score (Map)

44. 44

45. 45 Opportunity Analysis

46. Redlining: 1937 to 2009
46

47. Detroit Opportunity
and Race
47
African American men are isolated
from neighborhoods of opportunity
in Detroit

48. Austin Opportunity and
Linguistic Isolation
48
Low opportunity
neighborhoods have higher
number of linguistically
isolated households

49. 49 Applications and Impact

50. Thompson v. HUD
50
 Fair housing Litigation in Baltimore
 brought on behalf of 14,000 African-American
residents of public housing
 in response to history of racial segregation of public
housing
 Represented by Maryland ACLU and NAACP Legal
Defense Fund
 US District Court of Maryland, Judge Marvin Garbis
 Began in 1995…judge issued liability ruling in 2005
 found HUD liable for violating the federal Fair Housing Act

51. Opportunity Mapping in Baltimore
51
 Use of 14 indicators of
neighborhood opportunity to
designate high and low opportunity
neighborhoods in the Baltimore
region
 Indicators of Opportunity (General)
 Neighborhood Quality/Health
 Poverty, Crime, Vacancy, Property
Values, Population Trends
 Economic Opportunity
 Proximity to Jobs and Job Changes,
Public Transit
 Educational Opportunity
 School Poverty, School Test Scores,
Teacher Qualifications

52. 52
 Subsidized housing
opportunities in
Baltimore are
generally clustered in
the region’s lowest
opportunity
neighborhoods

53. Impacts
53
 Outside of the litigation, the opportunity maps have
been used in a variety of ways
 Program evaluation and planning
 Monitoring partial consent decree program
 Identifying Opportunities/Challenges
 Assessing opportunities/challenges related to the foreclosure
crisis
 Regional housing advocacy
 Baltimore Regional Housing Coalition
 Research
 Tracking outcomes for families who move to high opportunity
areas (John Hopkins)

54. Initial Moves and Secondary Moves by Thompson Consent
Decree Program Participants
c c
c
54

55. MA Legal Services and
Opportunity Communities
55
 Background on this project
 Originated from effort to incorporate
mapping analysis into legal services
 Partners
 Massachusetts Law Reform Institute,
MA Legal Assistance Corp
(foundation) and other Legal Services
Entities
 Year long process of meeting with
stakeholders to understand mapping
needs and issues
 Training with service providers &
agencies (using mapping for
programming)

56. Mapping Communities of Opportunity:
Methods and Indicators
56
 Three areas of
opportunity were
analyzed using GIS
mapping capability:
 Education Quality and
Opportunity
 Economic Health and
Transportation
 Neighborhood Stability and
Health

57. Impact
57
 Program design and use within the legal services
 New programming – proposed “Adopt A Zip Code” program
 Use in exploring client concerns/challenges
 Use in litigation (National Consumer Law Center)
 Internal use by funder (MLAC)
 Direct advocacy
 State opportunity impact assessment (proposed)
 Dissemination among state agencies
 State level program design (public sector)
 New $5 million state affordable housing program, targeted to
high opportunity communities
 Implementation still unfolding

58. 58

59. 59 Concluding Thoughts

60. Tools and Tips for Using GIS to Support Regional Equity
60
 Do not underestimate the power of maps to illustrate
problems, build support, increase awareness and
change minds
 Think regional when mapping
 Even when looking at localized issues/problems, you may find
they are regional in scope
 Maps are just another tool to help you
 Do not be wary of the technology
 Many places to receive help: universities, research/advocacy
organizations, some non-profits
 What story do you want to tell?
 Utilize maps to tell that story

61. Thank you!
For questions, comments or for more information: www.kirwaninstitute.org
or e-mail us at Gambhir.2@osu.edu
61