Data Visualization of Structural Racism and Place

Overview

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)  is launching this call for proposals (CFP) to enhance and support new and novel efforts by data creators and/or data users to effectively communicate, using data, how conditions of place are shaped by structural racism in ways that negatively impact community health. 

The purpose of this CFP is to provide grants to up to eight interdisciplinary teams that each
consist of researchers/data producers, data scientists, communications experts, designers, and
national social change networks/alliances or national-level social change organizations. The
teams will create data visualizations or data visualization tools that have national coverage and
can be disaggregated down to smaller geographies as a tool to create easy-to-understand
visualizations of structural racism’s impact on place, health, and wellbeing.

Collaboration is needed across organizations that address different sectors such as academia,
design, media, policy, public health, social services. Organizations in individual sectors may
struggle on their own with communicating an effective and nuanced understanding of the impact
of structural racism to diverse audiences, such as policymakers, advocates, funders and
investors, or the media. While the primary deliverables of this project will be data visualization
tools and other methods of communicating using data, we anticipate that the deliverables will
inform and support advocacy campaigns and should center the experience and needs of
communities most affected by structural racism.

Structural racism can affect community conditions including but not limited to the built
environment, community safety and policing, employment, environmental conditions, food
insecurity, housing, racial segregation, and transportation. One purpose of the CFP is to
understand the legacy of racism beyond the current visualizations of place we have now, which
are often based on redlining maps.

Funding will support the creation of data visualizations as tools for national social change
networks, alliances or national-level social change organizations to apply to their
communications work and that of local partners or affiliates. Each overall partnership should
demonstrate the unique potential of combining national coverage data with the perspective of
impacted communities on indicators of structural racism.

• A collaboration of multiple organizations or parties is required. The collaboration must include at least one individual or organization in each of the following sectors: (1) researcher/data producer; (2) communications expert (e.g., generalist, creative lead, or graphic designer); and (3) national-level social change organization, network, or alliance committed to advancing racial and health equity, who have relationships and/or reach to engage aligned community organizations or affiliates. 
• Data resources with national coverage and the ability to scale down to smaller units of analysis, like county, city, and/or census tract and that can provide disaggregated data will be preferred. However, data resources that have wide coverage of multiple cities, rural areas, or regions will also be considered. Single state, county, or city datasets do not qualify. 
• Lead organizations may only submit one proposal. The internal competition is available on  InfoReady and is first-come, first-served.

• May 9, 2023 (4 p.m. ET): Optional applicant webinar. Registration is required through this link.
• Mid-July 2023: Award notifications.
• September 1, 2023: Grant award start date.
• Award Duration: One year with no further commitments planned at this time.
• Number of Awards: Up to eight awards.
• Individual grants will typically range from $100,000 to $250,000; however, higher requests will be considered.