• ACCESS TO PUBLIC DATA: Often the public sector does not have the resources to make data easily accessible due to challenges of organizational bureaucracy, data being siloed and varying methods and formats for data collection.

• BARRIERS TO ENTRY: There are capacity challenges and skill gaps that make it difficult for grassroots efforts to use and interpret data to support and inform their work.

• DEPENDENCE ON INSTITUTIONS: Without data capacity, community-based groups are reliant on institutions that may have different interests and biases, hindering their ability to use data to advance their own goals and narrative.

• TRAIN COMMUNITY IN DATA SKILLS: Kheprw Institute and New America are partnering to implement a curriculum focused on training an inter-generational community group (with an emphasis on youth) to access, interpret and create data visualizations using tools such as R, Python and ArcGIS.
• CONNECT DATA EXPERTS WITH COMMUNITY: Learning is enhanced by building relationships and collaboration between data experts (who gain a greater understanding of community issues) and community members (who learn technical skills). 
• ESTABLISH OPEN-SOURCE DATA PORTAL: The curriculum is built around hands-on real-world data projects focused on five critical areas. These projects, data sources and methods will made available to our community through an online data portal.  

KHEPRW INSTITUTE’S COMMUNITY ROOTS: Kheprw Institute is rooted in the experiences of the African American community in Indianapolis. Since its founding in 2003, we have cultivated a culture centered on youth empowerment with technology as a key tool for development and community engagement, including KI NuMedia (launched in 2008) and D+D (launched in 2019). 

NEW AMERICA’S EXPERTISE & NETWORK: New America Indianapolis is committed to honestly confronting the challenges caused by rapid technological and social change; centering residents in public problem-solving; and supporting work to advance racial equity in Indianapolis. In order to directly engage in policy advocacy and solution design, all residents should have affordable or free access to useful and rigorous public data.