Empowering Communities with Data through the SEED Scholars Program
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis, it’s more important than ever to have accurate, real-time data to keep residents informed and help city leaders support impacted communities. The City of Los Angeles uses data to develop COVID-19 Recovery Dashboards, address shade inequity, and provide a community tool for residents to learn more about their neighborhoods. Though data is an extremely valuable resource, often there are barriers that prevent residents and community groups from extracting meaningful insights. The SEED Scholars Program aims to address that by partnering data students with nonprofit organizations in the LA area.
Cal State LA, Community Partners, and the City of Los Angeles have committed to training university students and nonprofit organizations to leverage open data for the good of our LA communities. In the two years of this National Science Foundation-funded program through Cal State LA’s Big Data partnership, we’ve trained nearly 300 students, produced over 100 data projects, and partnered with over 40 nonprofit organizations. Last summer, we worked with Los Angeles Regional Reentry Partnership to map reentry service providers in Los Angeles, using their information to build impactful tools.
This summer, Annie Chen, a recent Cal State LA graduate, interned for the local nonprofit organization SmartAirLA to help understand the effects of air pollution in communities near our LA ports. Describing her experience, she said,
“I had an amazing time working with SmartAirLA. I’ve learned about the science behind the different pollution source categories and how it exacerbates asthma rates near the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. I’ve gained insight on how people of color are directly impacted by air pollution and that locations within the hotspots of air pollutants are mostly families with lower and unstable income. This has been an enlightening experience as I was involved in many different roles within this internship.”
Annie was one of many remarkable students who delivered a data project for partnering nonprofit organizations. For many nonprofits, this program was their first exposure to community data. Community Partners — a nonprofit fiscal sponsor and lead partner — provided guidance to both nonprofits and students, ensuring that organization concerns were addressed, and projects were on track. Overall, the projects this summer grappled with questions like:
● What data is available?
● How could data be most useful for the nonprofit organization?
● How can we scope data projects that are feasible for first-time GIS users?
To support students and nonprofits, partners developed HowTo documents, self-paced trainings, and hosted bi-weekly workshops to ensure that students and nonprofit organizations cultivated data projects that address community challenges at hand.
With the summer coming to a close, we’re proud to share some of the work our Cal State LA SEED Scholars delivered for local nonprofit organizations:
Effects of COVID-19 on Older Adults: Students examined the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on older adults, and included individual maps around median income, internet access by age and race, and nursing home COVID case data in support of the California Elder Justice Coalition Summer Project.
Overview of street safety and environmental indicators in Wilmington: Students examined pedestrian traffic incidents, street signage prominence, and heavy cargo truck route data to address pedestrian and street safety for one of LA’s most vulnerable communities. Students worked on the Los Angeles Walks Summer Project to make walking in L.A. more accessible, equitable and safe.
Uncovering the Challenges of LGBTQ Youth and Families in Los Angeles: In this StoryMap, students identified programmatic strategies for the Latino Equality Alliance to focus on amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This work was in support of the Latino Equality Alliance Summer Project.
More than ever, leaders are tasked with using data to address community needs. With information being one of the most valuable tools in reimagining our communities, the SEED Scholars Program is working to strengthen the data skills of our LA residents. You can learn more about the program and find a gallery of student projects here. If you are interested in learning more about the partner organizations on this grant, feel free to reach out to the contacts below. In the meantime, let’s all stay safe and use data to advocate for community change!
● Preston Mills, Community Data Manager for the City of Los Angeles.
● Ravi Shah, Program and Operations Manager for Community Partners.
● Dr. Dawn Dennis, NSF Big Data Grant Project Manager at Cal State LA
