Equity and GIS

[EvaReid_DC]

Greetings Colleagues!

I will be presenting on Thursday's webinar and I wanted to check in with everyone and see if there are topics around "equity " and "equity mapping" that you would like me to touch on in the presentation and/or bring up in the discussion.

Charlie had sent this link in our listserve if you would like some background or a place to start thinking around questions. I'd love to have you drop ideas here and/or bring them up on the webinar. I'd also love for this to be an ongoing conversation, so feel free to drop questions and ideas that might not be directly related.

[CharlieFitzpatrick]

First, THANK YOU for agreeing to do this Eva!

Second, a confession: I was a social studies/ history/ geography teacher (gr.7-12, mostly 😎 1977-1992 before shifting to Esri, and taught with what I view now as a badly incomplete vision of "equity." It just wasn't a word I considered in my teaching beyond "treating everyone fairly in my class."

Third, were I coming into teaching today, I would want to grasp "the layers of things I need to understand deeply that go beyond simply treating everyone fairly in my class."

[EvaReid_DC]

100% my pleasure, @CharlieFitzpatrick ! And to be quite frank, I don't think most people were thinking about equity in the way that we are now.

That's a loaded statement, but I think most people experiencing the inequity knew it was happening but didn't really imagine that it would be possible to make it stop in a meaningful way (I'm glad it didn't stop them from trying!). And unfortunately, data and information about the topic wasn't available in the way it is now. 

[ShanaCrosson2]

Hi Eve -

Thank you for hosting the session. I've been working with a team at my University to use maps and map projects as a way to explore issues of equity and systemic racism. Students are highly engaged in this work and I am optimistic given their commitment to making change. Your article brings up many points that help frame the projects, and could be crucial in guiding the discussions and progress. I'm always looking for resources and better ways to do these projects and provide for students. My questions are abstract -- how do we support and encourage students to dig into these topics to first see where the problems are, but then absolutely go beyond that to make change? I look forward to the discussion. Thank you!

[JerryBartz]

Will we be discussing the Social Equity Analysis Tool?

[EvaReid_DC]

I won't be directly speaking about it, but it's certainly a conversation that can be had during the discussion! We'll see what happens, but now it's on my radar as a topic. Thank you for asking!

[JohnOlson1]

It would be good to see examples of using GIS for environmental justice. E.g. are there layers for redlining, polluted areas, and economic status to which can be add schools, factories, etc.?

[EvaReid_DC]

We'll be talking about these to an extent. Thanks for asking!