Seeing others putting things into practice is one of the best ways to learn how to go from idea to real meaningful change in our data work.
We All Count reached out to some of the people who have taken the Data Equity Framework workshops to see what worked, what didn’t, and how they tweaked some of the tools and practices to suit their needs. We are so grateful to these folks for being willing to share.
Tatiana Masters told us about how their team used a Data Biography tool to uncover that a project around incarcerated women was using data that wasn’t what they had assumed it was. Basic data points like race and ethnicity were problematic in the way they were both collected and combined. This made the analysis of things like disproportionality much less accurate. They are using this to advocate at the state supreme court level to make changes in the way that data is collected and used. Read more…
Sally Laskey, from National Sexual Violence Resource Center, formed a working group with some of her team who had attended the workshop and they changed several of their processes, including how they collect social identity data. Read more…
Kylie, from a Canadian sexual assault center used the tools to help reduce tensions between the front line team and the project team and funders about how and why to collect data at all. They facilitated an afternoon session where they combined a Funding Web, a Motivation Touchstone and a Perspective Microscope Process to move through the impasse that had developed between frontline and administrative staff and foster alignment around how to collect data for a common purpose. Read more…
Kristen Degan and colleagues at Sharp Insight, LLC are using the Funding Web and Motivation Touchstone tools for their evaluation work with and for nonprofits.
Kristen first used the Funding Web to guide an internal conversation around incorporating equity into their work and processes. In her words, “The Funding Web led to great internal discussion as we discussed the stakeholders to include, the arrows linking stakeholders, and the narrative around the relationships.”
Sharp Insight even adapted the tool to their specific situation, adding a fourth colored arrow in their Funding Web to show the dissemination of reporting as different from data sharing as a way to start planning for their communications and distribution strategy well in advance. Read more…
Joanna Dueweke-Perez was working with ProsperUs Detroit used several of the tools from the Data Equity Framework to center equity in a project with business owners and community development organizations. One example from her story is that in designing the project, they utilized the Perspective Microscope to brainstorm as many different project design possibilities as possible before using the 5 Ws (Who, What, Where, When, Why) to refine their research question. The team has now begun data collection and sourcing with surveys, which utilize a Perceived Marginalization Scale, and intends to add in interviews and yarning as they go on. Read more…