1. Geography 686 Spring 2009
Class presentation
May 18, 2009
SAMIR GAMBHIR
Senior Research Associate
Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity

2. About Kirwan Institute
 Mission & Vision
The central mission of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity is
to contribute meaningfully to the field of research and scholarship on race,
ethnicity and social justice, to assist in reframing the way that we talk about, think
about and act on race and ethnicity, and to deepen the understanding of the
causes and consequences of and solutions to racial and ethnic hierarchy and
disparity so that we can envision and realize a society that is fair and just for all
people, where opportunity is not limited by race, ethnicity, gender, or class, where
democratic ideals inform social policy, and where all people recognize and
embrace the universal responsibility that each person has for the welfare of every
other person. From day to day we are concerned about the internal workings of
the Institute, but the real measure of our success must be the impact of our work
in bringing about this vision of a true democratic society. For this reason, all of
our research and scholarship is intended to have an implicit or explicit impact on
policies in the real world. By creating a research-based structural lens to look at
racism, we are shifting not only the way that racism is conceptualized, but also
the way we conceive of strategies to counteract its impact. In shifting the way we
talk about, think about and act on race, we hope to give new meaning to the
proposition that human destinies are intertwined.

8. Questions
 What do these maps show?
 What are these being used for?
 Do these maps tell a story?
 Are these effective in conveying what they
are intended for?
 www.healthcarethatworks.org

9. Discussion
 Why use maps?
 Overlay multiple pieces of information
 Tell a story
 Good entry point to unite diverse coalitions or stakeholders
 Why is visual information important?
 A picture is worth a thousand words
 Provide spatial reference
 “People are able to look at the information based on where they live
or areas they are familiar with and obtain a better understating”
 Why are maps effective?
 “people feel like they understand maps. Nobody will give you
feedback on regression analysis”
 Mapping is very effective at identifying strategic intervention
points
 Shared sense of value; builds mutual trust

10. Maps:
Powerful Visual Tools
Maps are incredibly efficient
 compacting volumes of
data
 ability to convey
information in seconds
 tell a story or solve a
problem
 Research has shown that
people can solve problems
faster with map based
information, than by looking at
charts, tables or graphs

11. Space and Social Equity
 Why are maps particularly effective in dealing with
issues of equity?
 Regional, racial and social inequity often manifest as spatial
inequity
 Maps are naturally the best tools to display this spatial
phenomena
 Maps give us the opportunity to look at our entire
regions or states
○ Informing people about an issue at a scale they may not usually
think of
○ linking communities sharing similar problems

12. Neighborhood based data
 Using neighborhood based data to assess
neighborhood opportunities and challenges is not
unprecedented
 is used in various sectors
 Examples
 Business: Site selection analysis by firms such as Claritas
 Community Development: Criteria used to identify areas
for targeted investment or areas targeted for specific
community development initiatives
 Housing: Models that try to connect affordable housing to
areas of job growth “work force housing initiatives”

13. Using Maps for Advocacy
 Inour work we see mapping as
serving these primary advocacy
goals
 Analysis
○ Existing conditions, spatial trends,
scenarios, optimization etc.
 Storytelling
○ A narrative
 Combination

14. Analytical Examples
 Are minority businesses in areas of economic
opportunity? (Cleveland)
 Are hospital investments benefiting
communities of color? (Columbus)
 How should EITC advocacy be tailored?
(Columbus)
 Are job growth areas connected to transit?
(Baltimore)

15. MBE and Projected Job Change 2000-2030

16. Hospital
Investments and
African American
Neighborhoods:
Columbus

17. Where Should EITC Advocacy be Targeted?

18. Recent Job Growth 98-02 and Public Transit Spatial Mismatch:
in the Baltimore Region
Job Growth & Public
Transit in Baltimore
The following map
illustrates the mismatch
between job growth and
transit in Baltimore
Percent Change
in Jobs
Job Loss
0-5
5 - 15
15 - 30
30 - 66.6

19. Narratives Examples
 Subsidized housing policy is reinforcing
segregation (Baltimore)
 Foreclosures in African American
neighborhoods are due to subprime lending
patterns (Cleveland)
 Vacant property problems are spreading,
vacant property challenges are not just an
inner city problem (Detroit)
 What if Montclair, NJ schools returned to
neighborhood school system?

20. Conditions in
Baltimore
 Subsidized
housing
opportunities in
Baltimore are
generally
clustered in the
region’s
predominately
African American
neighborhoods

21. Subprime Lending, Race and Foreclosure
(Note: Not one of our maps)

22. Subprime Lending, Race and Foreclosure
(Note: Not one of our maps)
Maps: Produced and adapted from Charles Bromley, SAGES
Presidential Fellow, Case Western University

23. Looking at Issues Across Time and Space:
The Growing Vacant Land Problem in Detroit
N
Growth of Vacant Housing Legend: W E
in Detroit 1970-2000 S
City of Detroit % of Homes Vacant
(% Vacant Housing Highways 0-3
in 1970 and 2000) Counties 3 - 10
10 - 15
Prepared by: Kirwan Institute
Source Data: U.S. Census Bureau 15 - 20
20 - 57.6
% Vacant % Vacant
1970 2000
8 0 8 16 Miles

24. Montclair School District, NJ

25. Opportunity Mapping:
Combining Analysis with a Strong
Narrative
 Opportunity mapping is a research tool used to
understand the dynamics of “opportunity” within
metropolitan areas
 The purpose of opportunity mapping is to
illustrate where opportunity rich communities
exist (and assess who has access to these
communities)
 Also, to understand what needs to be remedied in
opportunity poor communities

26. The “Community of Opportunity”
approach
 Where you live is more important than what you live
in…
 Housing -- in particular its location -- is the primary mechanism
for accessing opportunity in our society
 Housing location determines
○ the quality of schools children attend,
○ the quality of public services they receive,
○ access to employment and transportation,
○ exposure to health risks,
○ access to health care, etc.
 For those living in high poverty neighborhoods, these factors
can significantly inhibit life outcomes

27. Framework
 The “Communities of Opportunity” framework
is a model of fair housing and community
development
 The model is based on the premises that
 Everyone should have fair access to the critical
opportunity structures needed to succeed in life
 Affirmatively connecting people to opportunity
creates positive, transformative change in
communities

28. The web of opportunity
 Opportunities in our society are geographically
distributed (and often clustered) throughout
metropolitan areas
 This creates “winner” and “loser” communities or
“high” and “low” opportunity communities
 Your location within this “web of opportunity”
plays a decisive role in your life potential and
outcomes
 Individual characteristics still matter…
 …but so does access to opportunity, such as good
schools, health care, child care, and job networks

29. Baltimore
Opportunity and
Subsidized
Housing
 Subsidized housing
opportunities in Baltimore
are generally clustered in
the region’s lowest
opportunity neighborhoods

30. Detroit Opportunity
and Race
African American men are
isolated from neighborhoods of
opportunity in Detroit

31. Austin Opportunity
and Linguistic
Isolation
Low opportunity
neighborhoods have higher
number of linguistically
isolated households

32. Methodology
 Identifying and selecting indicators of
opportunity
 Identifying sources of data
 Compiling list of indicators (data matrix)
 Calculating Z scores
 Averaging these scores

33. Methodology:
Sources of Data
 Federal Organizations
 Census Bureau
 County Business Patterns (ZIP Code Data)
 Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
 State and Local Governmental Organizations
 Regional planning agencies
 Education boards/school districts
 Transportation agencies
 County Auditor’s Office
 Other agencies (non-Profit and Private)
 Schoolmatters.org
 DataPlace.org
 ESRI Business Analyst
 Claritas

34. Methodology:
Indicator Categories
 Education
 Student/Teacher ratio? Test scores? Student mobility?
 Economic/Employment Indicators
 Unemployment rate? Proximity to employment? Job creation?
 Neighborhood Quality
 Median home values? Crime rate? Housing vacancy rate?
 Mobility/Transportation Indicators
 Mean commute time? Access to public transit?
 Health & Environmental Indicators
 Access to health care? Exposure to toxic waste? Proximity to parks
or open space?

35. Methodology:
Calculating Z Scores
 Z Score – a statistical measure that quantifies the distance
(measured in standard deviations) between data points and
the mean
Z Score = (Data point – Mean)/ Standard Deviation
 Allows data for a geography (e.g. census tract) to be
measured based on their relative distance from the average
for the entire region
 Raw z score performance
 Mean value is always “zero” – z score indicates distance from the
mean
 Positive z score is always above the region’s mean, Negative z score
is always below the region’s mean
 Indicators with negative effect on opportunity should have all the z
scores adjusted to reflect this phenomena

36. Austin MSA, TX

37. New Orleans MSA, LA

38. Baltimore MSA, MD

39. Massachusetts Opportunity Mapping, Boston area

40. Cleveland Area, OH

41. Follow-up
 Need more research on methodology
 The model needs to be made more
robust
 Critical analysis of all indicators e.g. job
mismatch, park access issues

42. Ongoing projects
 Connecticut Fair Housing and Opportunity
 Children well-being and policy guidance in
Massachusetts
 Florida Opportunity Mapping and Economic
stimulus money tracking
 Montclair, NJ school integration
 King County, Seattle Opportunity Mapping
and Housing

43. Future projects
 Online interactive maps
 ArcGIS Server
 ArcIMS
○ http://128.146.162.230/Website/Baltimore/
 Open source
○ http://www.gis.osu.edu/webgis-projects/opportunity/index.html
 Preparing a national model for Opportunity
Mapping

44. Questions or Comments?
 Please visit us online at: www.kirwaninstitute.org