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Juneteenth 2021: Reflections and Resources

By Margot Bordne and Clinton Johnson (he, him, his)

Last year on Juneteenth, Esri launched the Racial Equity Initiative and Hub to provide GIS resources for individuals and organizations working to advance racial equity and social justice worldwide.  One year later, we reflect on the GIS community’s incredible work, share new resources, and renew Esri’s commitment to bringing the full power of location technology to bear in the fight against racial injustice.

Racial Equity GIS Hub
Racial Equity GIS Hub

Bringing Together Community Resources

The purpose of Esri’s Racial Equity Hub is to support your racial equity work by bringing together in one place:

Let’s take a walk through key highlights from the past year.

Inspirational use cases and stories

Organizations across all sectors have been busy innovating new ways to leverage GIS technology to advance racial equity, involving communities throughout their efforts. This past year, users added over 100 examples of GIS applications to the “Applications” section of the hub. The collection is growing every day. Want to add your GIS application to the hub? Fill out this survey.

Applications Section of the Racial Equity GIS Hub
Visit the Applications Section of the Racial Equity GIS Hub to get inspired.

The hub also features user stories in the “Articles” section. Below are just a few examples of the incredible stories featured on the hub this past year:

A growing collection of data resources

In the “Data” section of the hub, you can find over 75 data layers, web maps, and policy maps across a wide range of racial equity topics including climate and environmental issues, criminal justice, economic data, education, elections, health, housing, infrastructure and more. These layers, along with a large collection of layers on demographic and language information can help inform your work. Below are just a few examples of the data layers and maps featured on the hub this past year, with the list growing regularly.

Data Section of the Racial Equity Hub
Visit the Data Section of the Racial Equity Hub to find over 100 data layers across a wide array of topics.

Racial Equity webinars, blogs, ebooks, and other guidance

Esri’s racial equity team is developing a body of knowledge and best practices for leveraging GIS to advance racial equity and social justice through working with our users. As patterns of best practices emerge from our user community, we seek to capture and share those through webinars, blogs, ebooks, and other guidance, all compiled on the hub. Below are just a few examples of the guidance shared on the hub this past year:

You can explore all of Esri’s guidance on the “Resources” page of the hub.

Racial Equity ebook
Find Esri's new Racial Equity ebook on the Racial Equity Hub

New geospatial solutions for racial equity

Working alongside our users, Esri is developing new geospatial solutions to enable organizations to quickly deploy capabilities that support best practice workflows for advancing racial equity and social justice. This year the hub featured three new ArcGIS Solutions for racial equity, including Racial Equity Community OutreachPolice Transparency, and Business Inclusion. You can explore all of Esri’s current and future solutions on the “Resources” page of the hub.

ArcGIS Solutions for Racial Equity
Explore ArcGIS Solutions for Racial Equity on the Resources page of the racial equity hub

Community events and recordings

The hub is also a place to find upcoming community events and view recordings of past events. The “Events” section of the hub advertises upcoming events, and you can find videos of past recordings on the “Resources” page. For example, racial equity focused sessions at Esri’s 2020 User Conference and 2021 FedGIS conference were featured this year.

Racial Equity Events
Visit the "Events" section of the hub to find upcoming events
View videos of past events on the Resources page
View videos of past events on the Resources page

Racial Equity Learning Resources

This year for Juneteenth, Esri is excited to announce new training specifically created to support racial equity work your organization and others are doing around the country.

New Foundational Racial Equity Training

We recently introduced the following new online training to help our users incorporate racial equity and social justice best practices into their work:

Updated Training

Esri’s training teams enhanced the following lessons to ensure each includes a more explicit racial equity lens and workflow:

Easier Access to Racial Equity Training

Everyone can now more easily find racial equity training by visiting the Learn Relevant Skills section of the Resources page. You can also use the new Racial Equity filter in Esri’s Learn ArcGIS Lesson Gallery.

Find Racial equity training on the Learn Relevant Skills section of the hub's Resources page
Find Racial equity training on the Learn Relevant Skills section of the hub's Resources page

Looking Ahead

Juneteenth is a time of reflection for us at Esri on a personal level, our users, and people across the globe. Looking back over the past year, we recognize many of our users’ leadership and unwavering dedication to driving forward much-needed progress.

We at Esri recognize that we also have a role to play in creating a world where a person’s race and place do not determine their life outcomes. We look forward to continuing to work alongside you all in service, partnership, and solidarity.

Sincerely,

Esri’s Racial Equity Team

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