June 22, 2021
Dashboard announced at 2nd Annual Equity Forum, June 24, with 500+ attendees and national keynotes Dr. Andre Perry, Brookings Institute, and Dr. Darrick Hamilton, The New School
DETROIT – Six weeks after the release of Detroit Future City’s widely-recognized report, “The State of Economic Equity in Detroit,” the organization is launching its Economic Equity Dashboard, an interactive web-based tool that will track progress over time. The Economic Equity Dashboard will be presented at DFC’s second annual Equity Forum on June 24, when over 500 attendees will hear from keynote speakers Dr. Andre Perry of the Brookings Institute and Dr. Darrick Hamilton, the Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy and founding director of the Institute for the Study of Race, Stratification and Political Economy at The New School. Click here to view the dashboard and click here to register for the Equity Forum.
The Economic Equity Dashboard takes the six focus areas – income and wealth-building, access to quality employment, business and entrepreneurship, education, health, and neighborhoods and housing – and 22 economic equity indicators presented in “The State of Economic Equity in Detroit” and puts them into an interactive web-tool, allowing audience to further engage with and learn from the data by activating or specifying filters such as race, gender, geography, and income, among others. In addition to data tracking the progress of economic equity in Detroit, the dashboard site allows users to pull quick facts, and there are plans to include elements of storytelling with blogs and video of Detroiters and their lived experienced that relates to the focus areas.
As new data is released from trusted sources such as the American Community Survey, DFC will put this information in the context of economic equity in Detroit and the region, and continue to update the dashboard to track progress. DFC also plans to update “The State of Economic Equity in Detroit” every three years.
The dashboard is the culmination of a yearlong planning and engagement process with input from nearly 500 stakeholders, from national experts to Detroit residents, which commenced after the launch of DFC’s Center for Equity, Engagement, and Research (The Center) at the inaugural Equity Forum in February 2020. The Center was formed to build on DFC’s portfolio of 20-plus research reports, including the 2017 release of the “139 Square Miles” and 2019’s “Growing Detroit’s African-American Middle Class” reports.
The Center aims to help advance economic equity in the region through a number of initiatives, working in partnership with stakeholders to educate, advocate and engage at every level. The Center will work with stakeholders to help use this data in policy recommendations that address systemic inequities, as well as deepen the research within the report’s sections to provide further data and recommendations in an accessible format.
In “The State of Economic Equity in Detroit,” DFC lays out several recommendations to create a path towards economic equity, including the improvement of educational outcomes at all levels, an increase in the share of jobs available to Detroiters who do not have a bachelor’s degree, increased access to capital for minority-owned small businesses, improved access to affordable quality health care, to grow and strengthen middle-class neighborhoods, and increase access to affordable housing.
The Equity Forum takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. on June 24, and in addition to the keynote speakers, attendees will hear from the DFC CEO Anika Goss, DFC Center Director Ashley Williams Clark, board members and funders. Additionally, two youth poets from the InsideOut Literary Arts Program will recite poems they wrote about their experiences related to economic equity in Detroit. The Forum will also include break out session focused on each economic equity focus area, allowing attendees to help identify barriers to economic equity and possible solutions to overcome them.
The Equity Forum is sponsored by Cinnaire, Bank of America, DTE Energy and Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). The Center is funded by The Kresge Foundation, Hudson-Webber Foundation, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
“The State of Economic Equity in Detroit” along with information about engagement and events are available online at www.detroitfuturecity.com. Limited print copies are available by request, which can be made by emailing center@detroitfuturecity.com.