AISP Toolkit Feb25 2025 - Flipbook - Page 20
WORK IN ACTION:
Foundations for Community Involvement
FOUNDATIONS FOR COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
The Work in Action10 sites featured in this section have started small and expanded with purpose and
intention over many years of sustained effort. Of the seven data integration efforts, 昀椀ve are local,
based at the city and county level. One of the local efforts is hosted by a government agency, one by
a university, and three by community-based organizations with strong ties to government agencies.
The other two efforts operate at the state level, one from within state government and one outside
of state government.
Though these sites vary widely in terms of their areas of focus, scale, and sta昀케ng models, all have
worked slowly and steadily to center racial equity and weigh the risks and bene昀椀ts of data use.
Each of these sites has also taken the time to carefully develop and re昀椀ne participatory governance
structures. They have demonstrated great impact and also made mistakes and course-corrected
along the way. While the sites we feature are impressive, what they are doing is not magic, but rather
hard and committed work. We hope these examples of Work in Action both inspire your efforts and
provide proof that these hard things are doable—even in politically complex environments.
Each summary is told from the perspective of the people doing the work. They provide a description
of their work moving toward the right on the Spectrum of Community Engagement, as well as
lessons learned. You can also access long-form Work in Action describing participatory governance
approaches here.
In the next section, we will work stage by stage through the data life cycle to help you on your journey,
with shorter and more targeted examples of how sites are centering racial equity throughout the
data life cycle.
Baltimore City Youth Data Hub
Bridget Blount & James Sadler
The Baltimore City Youth Data Hub integrates individual-level data between Baltimore’s Promise (a
collective impact nonpro昀椀t), Baltimore City schools, and the City of Baltimore. Authorized by state
legislation in 2022, our approach at the Youth Data Hub brings together communities, providers,
policy makers, researchers, and young people to inform and make decisions about the creation
and implementation of programs and policies designed to eliminate disparities and drive equitable
outcomes for all of Baltimore’s youth and families.
READ THE FULL DESCRIPTION
10 We use the term Work in Action, rather than exemplar, to feature site-based work that is ongoing and rooted in learning
and humility, acknowledging that all work at the intersection of data infrastructure and racial equity is complicated and
contextual and not necessarily replicable.
16
