Data integration by local and state governments is undertaken for the public good to support the interconnected needs of families and communities. Though data infrastructure is a powerful tool to support equity-oriented reforms, equity is rarely centered as a core goal for data integration. This raises fundamental concerns, as integrated data increasingly provide the raw materials for evaluation, research, and risk modeling. This session will provide an overview of the newly updated Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration (2025), the companion Workbook, and explore how participants can apply these learnings to center equity throughout the data life cycle in their day-to-day work.

About this group:

We are a group of data users in Connecticut who are supporting one another as we work toward more equitable data practices. We focus on racial equity explicitly but not exclusively.

Some of the topics we talk about include:

• How can we make sure we don't make certain groups invisible through how we disaggregate our data?

• How can we learn to focus our attention on the strengths, rather than the deficits, of groups we are seeking to serve or support?

• How can we learn from the people who we hope will benefit from our products or services about what their data means to them?

• How can we help the institutions that we are part of to be trustworthy so that people will trust us with their information/data?

You can read more about our past events here.

Please feel free to check out the group. And if it is helpful, please share it!