Our analytical work spans beyond these research buckets. We have presented analytics to highlight othering due to COVID, disparate impacts of natural disasters, digital divide in California and areas to focus on improving civic engagement. With our expertise in empirical and spatial analysis using R, Python and GIS, and with our understanding of issues areas, we provide compelling evidence through our analysis and policy recommendations.
Some of the completed and ongoing projects in this area are:
- Civic Power Mapping Project: In collaboration with the OBI’s Community Power and Policy Partnerships (CP3) program, and working with Bay Area Rising, this project identified priority areas for civic engagement for five Bay area counties: San Mateo, Alameda, San Francisco, Contra Costa and Santa Clara. The empirical analysis identified a set of indicators guiding our quest to identify neighborhoods that could improve future voting patterns of marginalized groups.
- Digital Divide in California: In collaboration with the CP3 program, this analysis looks at the deployment of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service in California by the largest telecom company in the state. The findings show that the early deployment of the company’s “gigapower” all-fiber service is concentrated in wealthier communities, relegating lower-income neighborhoods to less advanced technologies that offer markedly slower speeds.
- Examining the Impact of Hurricane Sandy on Marginalized Populations: Natural disasters can affect all of us, but they leave a particularly devastating impact on our most vulnerable and marginalized populations and communities. Hurricane Sandy was a tropical storm that destroyed many communities on the eastern seaboard and left thousands homeless. This mapping exercise identified geographies, and people residing in those, which were badly affected by the storm.
- COVID impacts on vulnerable communities: COVID devastated our communities and our way of life. It impacted everyone but vulnerable and marginalized communities were worst affected. Right after the worldwide spread, we shared some analysis to show disparity in access to health and highlighted how vulnerable communities were impacted.
