Quick Guide
Definition: Collect data to reflect the experience of communities impacted by inequities and make it accessible to the community for shared use in policy and program planning.
Why It Matters: Data helps us understand health inequities, and we need to be intentional in the data we are collecting, as well as, who we share it with and how we use it. Collecting data directly from communities impacted by inequities, ensures that those communities are counted, seen, and heard. This might mean collecting multiple types of data (quantitative and qualitative) in innovative ways. Sharing the information with those communities allows for accountability and empowers communities to become advocates for themselves.
Why It Matters: Data helps us understand health inequities, and we need to be intentional in the data we are collecting, as well as, who we share it with and how we use it. Collecting data directly from communities impacted by inequities, ensures that those communities are counted, seen, and heard. This might mean collecting multiple types of data (quantitative and qualitative) in innovative ways. Sharing the information with those communities allows for accountability and empowers communities to become advocates for themselves.
| Type | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | County Health Rankings & Roadmaps | This website can serve as a resource or example of the type of data that can be collected for all counties. It doesn’t, however, address the barriers of collecting certain demographic data in smaller counties. |
| Webinars | Achieving Equity with Results- Based Accountability | Under the framework of Results-Based Accountability (RBA), this 1.5-hour webinar covers multiple topics geared toward equity in a community starting with data. Topics span from using disaggregated data to understand racial inequities to basic information on racism, racial equity, and racial bias. The webinar ends with examples, success stories, and resources from local health departments and beyond. |
| Guides | Gathering Data and Information from the City of Long Beach Office of Equity Toolkit | (Page 14-15) This toolkit provides guiding questions and examples of how to apply an equity lens to multiple strategies, including gathering data and information (of interest for this competency). The guiding questions span different levels in the spectrum of early, established, and strong. |
| Guides | COVID-19 Health Equity Playbook for Communities, Strategies and Practices for an Equitable Reopening and Recovery | (Page 53) The Data Section of this report provides examples of dashboards from local health departments and lists state data tools to further explore. |
| Guides | Making Wise Decisions: Find the right-fit data system to meet your organization's needs | Created by Public Profit and B3 Consults with generous support from the S.H. Cowell Foundation, Making Wise Decisions is a free step-by-step guide that aims to eliminate a very common and major struggle for mission-driven organizations: finding the right data system, or optimizing the one that’s in place. |
| Type | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Oakland Equity Indicators - Measuring Change Toward Greater Equity in Oakland | This Oakland Equity Indicators Report is an example of the type of analyses that can be developed after going through the data collection process. The city of Oakland showcases a quantitative framework for city staff and community members to understand the impacts of race, measure inequities, and track changes in disparities over time. |
| Trainings | Data for Rural Health Equity, Vol. I: Understanding Population Health Concepts | The first of a three-part series, this 1.5-hour module reviews how to use data and make a connection between social determinants of health and health disparities in a community. (Rural Resource) |
| Trainings | Data for Rural Health Equity, Vol. II: Communicating Effectively | The second of a three-part series, this 1.5-hour module dives into how to communicate data to your community. (Rural Resource) |
| Trainings | Data for Rural Health Equity, Volume III: Visualizing Data Stories | The last of a three-part series, this 1.5-hour module covers data visualization strategies to help deliver health information to your audience and tell a more captivating story. (Rural Resource) |
| Webinars | North American Equity Data Convening: Empowering Belonging Through Data | Equity-centered data is the foundation for creating a more inclusive and just society, ensuring that data collection, analysis, and decision-making processes include the needs of historically marginalized groups when setting goals for strong and inclusive communities. By focusing on equity, this approach actively seeks to uncover disparities and by amplifying the voices of those most affected by systemic inequalities, help build structures that ensure everybody thrives. Data—objective, measurable, and actionable—serves as a powerful tool to guide and refine these effort.s |
| Guides | How Can We Mobilize Data? | This website provides ideas, actions, and resources on how to utilize data to understand and investigate inequities and evaluate public health interventions. The various materials span the spectrum of our early, established, and strong categories. |
| Guides | Principles for Using Public Health Data to Drive Equity | A guide to embedding equitable practices throughout the data life cycle. |
| Articles | A Rising Tide: Increasing Rural Local Health Department Capacity to Address the Social Determinants of Health - Data and Evaluation | (Page 13 & 21) The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describe five essential themes within rural local health departments to combat social determinants of health in their communities: Partnerships, Leadership, Community Engagement, Data & Evaluation, and Strategic Planning. (Rural Resource) |
| 2023 CA LHJ Examples | 2022 Sutter County Community Health Assessment (CHA) | While data limitations exist, Sutter County Public Health prioritizes collecting equity related data in their Public Health programs and through the Sutter County Community Health Assessment. Sutter County Public Health collects qualitative data in targeted areas within the County to capture the differences in experiences with health and well-being that exist for community members. Furthermore, Sutter County shares disaggregated data through the Community Health Assessment dashboards to highlight the health disparities that exist in Sutter County and to inform future equity work. |
| 2023 CA LHJ Examples | El Dorado County Community Health Assessment (CHA) Data | El Dorado County completed a community health assessment using a “boots on the ground” approach, meeting with folks in their communities. The number of events, staff participating, and community responses was remarkable. The demographics of the respondents reflected the diversity of the county, closely mirroring the most recent Census data. El Dorado County will use the results of this assessment to inform new programs and services. Assessment data is accessible via their website at Welldorado.org. |
| 2024 CA LHJ Examples | Santa Barbara County: Assessing the Well-Being of Residents | Santa Barbara County Health’s Epidemiology unit partners with Santa Barbara Cottage Health and other community partners to assess the well-being of Santa Barbara County (SBC) residents through their Community Health Needs Assessment. The assessment includes a statistically significant mixture of telephone and web-based surveys, with calls to randomly selected cell and landlines. In addition, collaborative partners conduct a listening tour to hear from individuals and organizations regarding health-related needs in the community. Additionally, the department conducts regular patient satisfaction and experience surveys, conducting approximately roughly 1200 survey per year to gather feedback on satisfaction with healthcare services. |
| Type | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Data Platforms | Healthy Places Index (HPI) | Evidence-based and peer-reviewed, the HPI supports efforts to prioritize equitable community investments, develop critical programs and policies across the state, and much more. |
| Data Platforms | CalEnviroScreen | CalEnviroScreen is a mapping tool that helps identify California communities that are most affected by many sources of pollution, where people are often especially vulnerable to pollution's effects. CalEnviroScreen ranks census tracts in California based on potential exposures to pollutants, adverse environmental conditions, socioeconomic factors and the prevalence of certain health conditions. Data used in the CalEnviroScreen model come from national and state sources. |
| Data Platforms | Washington Environmental Health Disparities Map | The EHD map is a collage of lived experiences across Washington. You, your families, and communities make up this map. This interactive map compares communities using census tracts to identify disparities. Using the EHD map can help us determine where more attention needs to be placed in order address and reduce the specific pollution, societal, and health harms affecting your life. Census tracts are small, relatively permanent geographic subdivisions within counties. Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve greater health. Concerns and needs of Washington residents are represented by showing the combined of impacts to their health. |
| Webinars | Coffee Break Webinar: Sharing Data With Your Community | A webinar overview of the newly launched tipsheet on sharing data with your community. The tipsheet outlines steps on best practices and examples on how to easily share data within your organization, work, and daily tasks. |
| Guides | Sharing Data With Your Community | A tipsheet that outlines steps for sharing data with your community. |
| Guides | Principles for Using Public Health Data to Drive Equity | (Page 23) This guide aims to incorporate data equity principles to each stage of the data life cycle, bringing an equity lens to each stage. These principles emerge from an environmental scan by the CDC Foundation that is further described in the document. The various stages of the data life cycle relate to different levels of the early, established, and strong spectrum. |
| Guides | Applying social determinants of health indicator data for advancing health equity | This technical guide walks local health departments and their community partners through collecting, analyzing, and using data indicators for local community health assessments, program/policy development, and health equity advocacy. |
| Guides | Do No Harm - Applying Equity Awareness in Data Visualization | This guide with its respective checklists and toolkits focuses on the ways data analysts, researchers, and communicators fail to integrate equity in their work, how to correct common mistakes, and how to be more intentional in using a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) approach. |
| Articles | GIS for Equity and Social Justice | The purpose of this article is to outline how GIS is effective for ESJ practices. Geospatial topics covered include spatial data management, data sources, geospatial analysis, cartography, data visualization, and management dashboards. This resource is best suited for GIS Users, GIS Toolmakers, GIS Scientists, and ESJ practitioners from other disciplines. |
| 2024 CA LHJ Examples | Los Angeles County: Data Initiatives | In 2024, the County of Los Angeles Public Health released two cornerstone data initiatives: 1) Data from the 2023 Los Angeles County Health Survey (LACHS) includes information concerning the health of Los Angeles County residents. The adult and child surveys were conducted in 6 languages (English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese), and this recent version expanded gender identity reporting to include transgender and gender non-binary/non-conforming/queer individuals. (http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/ha/hasurveyintro.htm) 2) The 2023 Community Health Profiles (CHP) provides geographically focused data, incorporates extensive community feedback, and provides data estimates on 100+ indicators known to impact the health and well-being of residents for 179 local geographies in Los Angeles County. Data are visualized using interactive maps and summary reports that ensure easy accessibility and usefulness for community partners and stakeholders. |