Data Justice Project

MADE for Health Justice: Data Equity in Action

This video highlights Pittsburgh’s stark neighborhood disparities, where a mere 800-foot bridge separates Larimer and Highland Park, representing a 20-year gap in life expectancy.

Our collaboration with the City of Pittsburgh, with support from the de Beaumont Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, highlight a vital social justice mission: ensuring that health outcomes are not determined by a person’s neighborhood.

As part of the MADE for Health Justice Initiative, we created the Community Data Justice Collaborative—a groundbreaking effort engaging diverse residents to shape how the city governs and uses data. This approach has been extended through the Neighborhood Power Building Initiative, in collaboration with the Larimer Consensus Group, which are actively using data to identify and intervene on social determinants of health.

This project emphasizes data justice, ensuring underrepresented communities have a voice in the collection and dispersal of information. By arming residents with actionable data, the initiative empowers them to advocate for policies like speed bumps and transparent governance, illustrating a powerful, data-driven strategy for improving community health and well-being across the entire city.

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Creating Community Governance

Data Justice for Pittsburgh’s Black Neighborhoods is a project led by the Black Equity Coalition (BEC), in partnership with the City of Pittsburgh, that aims to build decision-making power for Black residents. This project will engage with those that have been impacted by residential segregation and disinvestment, by creating public processes and power over data as it is used, governed, and disseminated in the City of Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is one of four cities in the U.S. selected in the Modern Anti-racist Data Ecosystems (MADE) for Health Justice initiative. The de Beaumont Foundation sponsored the BEC’s work to assist in accelerating the development of health-focused local data ecosystems that center principles of anti-racism, equity, justice, and community power.