A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration 2.0
Cross-sector data sharing and integration transform information about individuals into actionable intelligence that can be used to understand community needs, improve services, and build stronger communities. Yet, use of cross-sector data can also reinforce legacies of racist policies and produce inequitable resource allocation, access, and outcomes.
AISP’s A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration was originally released in 2020, and has been used by hundreds of organizations and agencies seeking to acknowledge and mitigate for the harms and bias baked into data, data infrastructure, and government data practices. In 2024-25, a workgroup was assembled to re-envision the Toolkit, updating it with more than 50 new examples of Work in Action from across the data lifecycle, and adding strategies for collecting and disaggregating Race, Ethnicity, Language, and Disability (RELD) and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGIE) data; working with Tribal Data; using (and mitigating risk related to) Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence; and a Companion Workbook with activities to guide your journey to centering racial equity.
We hope you enjoy exploring the interactive Toolkit. If you missed our launch webinar and would like an overview of this new resource, please see the recording here.
Centering racial equity is not a single, discrete step. The Toolkit describes positive and problematic practices for centering racial equity across the six stages of the data life cycle and offers examples of how communities have built strong foundations for community engagement. The Companion Workbook below (left) and the Participatory Governance Long-Form Work in Action (right) offer additional activities and content for your journey centering racial equity. Click on the thumbnails below to explore.
Explore the full interactive toolkit or download a PDF version of the Toolkit.
Curious about implementing these positive practices? Learn alongside our Equity in Practice Learning Community.
Explore the list below to discover the many ways in which our 2020 Toolkit has been featured:
Peer Reviewed Article
A Framework for Centering Racial Equity Throughout the Administrative Data Life Cycle, by Hawn Nelson & Zanti. International Journal of Population Data Science, Vol. 5 (3), October 2020. *Important to note that this peer-reviewed journal article is open access
Peer Reviewed Presentation
Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration, Online presentation of International Population Data Linkage Network (on YouTube), November 2020
Short Article
Applying a Race Equity Lens to Build Thriving Communities: Centering Racial Equity Across the Lifecycle. American Public Human Services Administration (APHSA) Magazine, Zanti, Katz, & Hawn Nelson, August 2020
Panel Presentations
Canada School of Public Service Digital Academy’s Removing Bias and Building Trust in Your Data, September 2020
Webinar Series
All In and the Network for Public Health Law, 3-part series on Racial Equity (September – October, 2020):
Part 1: Is it legal? Is it ethical? Is it a good idea? An Introduction to cross-sector data sharing, Amy Hawn Nelson & Emily Berkowitz
Part 2: How do you center racial equity throughout the data life cycle? Amy Hawn Nelson & Bridget Blount
Part 3: Successfully engaging stakeholders to center racial equity across the data life cycle, Tawana Petty, Sue Gallagher, & Amy Hawn Nelson
Webinars
Urban Institute, coordinator of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, and AISP event, “Centering Racial Equity in Data Use”, June 2020. You can also access Urban’s Principles for Advancing Equitable Data Practice document here.
Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy, Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration 2.0 launch webinar, March 2025.
Podcast
Personal Data Day, “Racial Justice in Data, a Toolkit,” Tawana Petty & Amy Hawn Nelson, October 2020