Participatory Governance: Longform Work in Action

These case studies are an expansion of seven work in action examples featured within  A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration (2025). The
 original Toolkit, released in 2020, catalyzed the formation of the Equity in
 Practice Learning Community (EiPLC), a cohort-based technical
 assistance initiative to put the Toolkit into practice in ten sites. The
 updated Toolkit is the result of a year-long Participatory Action Research 
(PAR) Project, and learnings from the EiPLC.

The following briefs are examples of Work in Action, a term we use rather than exemplar, to feature site-based work that is ongoing and rooted in 
learning and humility. They describe the work of seven local and state data integration 
efforts to develop and implement participatory data governance structures. Each of these sites started small and expanded with purpose over many years of sustained effort. Four of these sites were members of the EiPLC. While these examples are impressive, what they are doing is not magic, but rather the result of  shared commitment to the hard work of collaboration. We acknowledge that work at the intersection of data infrastructure and racial equity is complicated and contextual, and not necessarily replicable; however, we hope these examples both inspire your efforts and provide evidence that developing shared data infrastructure rooted in equity principles  is doable–even in politically complex environments.