All-In Cities: All-In Cities Policy Toolkit Is Live!

This summer we’ve hit some important milestones, including the launch of the All-In Cities policy toolkit. The toolkit includes an initial selection of tools, with new content and additional policies to be added throughout 2017 and beyond. Check out the updates below for details, and for how you can learn more about our growing body of work.

The All-In Cities Toolkit Is Live!
On July 14, we launched the All-In Cities policy toolkit. This new online resource is designed to help leaders inside and outside city government identify, understand, and choose targeted policy solutions to advance racial economic inclusion and equitable growth. A recent Next City article described the toolkit as “a mini-Wikipedia for equitable economic growth policies.” Click here to view the toolkit launch webinar with a demo on how to navigate the site, and explore the toolkit for yourself. Stay tuned for new content!
 
Equity Speaks Podcast: Making Cities Accessible to All
The latest episode of Equity Speaks, a PolicyLink podcast focusing on racial and social equity, is out! PolicyLink CEO Angela Glover Blackwell and Sasha Blair-Goldensohn, a Google software engineer and disability rights activist in New York City, discuss the moral imperative of making cities accessible to all, the power of the “curb-cut effect” as a frame for transit advocacy, and the promise of universal design as a way forward for city planning. Listen to the podcast here. Read excerpts of the interview here.
 
Powering Health Equity Action with Online Data Tools 
On July 10, the National Equity Atlas team and Ecotrust hosted a convening in Portland Oregon, focused on how data tools like the Atlas can power community action towards health equity. About 40 researchers, advocates, data users, and funders shared learnings and workshopped a set of design principles for using online data tools for health equity. One of the panels featured Nathaniel Smith from the Partnership for Southern Equity, Sam Sinyangwe from Campaign Zero/Mapping Police Violence, Julia Sebastian from Race Forward, Cat Goughnour from Prosperity Now, and Antwi Akom from Streetwyze, ISEEED, and the Social Innovation and Urban Opportunity Lab at the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco State University. Watch that panel discussion here and look out for a final report on the convening and design principles in the fall.
 
Employment Equity in Southern States (EESS)
Last month, PolicyLink, in collaboration with Rural Forward and the North Carolina Justice Center, launched our Employment Equity in Southern States (EESS) initiative in Raleigh, North Carolina. The EESS project aims to support local advocates in building greater political will for equitable employment policy solutions at the state level. Along with North Carolina, campaigns in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana are already in various stages of implementation. In addition to launching the project in North Carolina, last month PolicyLink staff also held focus groups in cities across Alabama and Georgia to hear directly from residents facing barriers to employment. Their invaluable insight will complement the rigorous data analysis completed by the University of Southern California’s Program for Environmental and Regional Equity on the potential economic and social benefits of full employment. Ultimately, partners will use the data analysis, focus group findings, and PolicyLink research to prioritize a policy agenda to pursue in the near future.