Research and Data Analysis
Power-Shifting Research
The Research & Data Analysis team engages in innovative research designed to reveal racial inequities and shift narratives and power. We focus on providing relevant, rigorous, and actionable data for campaign development, policy formation, and initiative building. We highlight the issues affecting communities most impacted by systemic racial injustice in climate, education, civic engagement, and more. Our work is done in deep partnership with communities of color to create meaningful data. To connect with us, please contact Chris Ringewald, Senior Director of Research and Data Analysis, at cringewald@catalystcalifornia.org.
Research and Data Values
The following values always guide the work we do.
Equity: We aim for data that reflects the stories and voices of communities of color impacted by oppressive systems.
Community: We design research methods collaboratively with community partners and ground truth findings with community.
Actionable: We produce analyses that are immediately relevant to current issues and campaigns to shift power and resources.
Transparency and accessibility: We use publicly available data and ensure our methods are shared and understandable for a wide range of audiences.
Accountability: We hold ourselves to a high standard of integrity and reliability and invest significant time in reviewing the quality of our data and methods.
Strengths
Measuring racial disparity
- As an organization focused on dismantling racial injustice, measuring racial disparities is central to our research and data. Our the research team is skilled in choosing metrics that measure racial disparity in understandable and actionable ways.
- Project Examples: RACE COUNTS, Reimagining Traffic Safety in Los Angeles, How Race Fuels a Pandemic
Conducting community-engaged research
- We work with communities to define research questions and data narrative and collect data through qualitative interviews, surveys, and community-engaged mapping. We ensure our research meets the needs of community partners through sensemaking sessions and intentional engagement throughout the research process.
- Project Examples: Youth Leadership Development in the Eastern Coachella Valley, Restorative Justice and Parent Organizing in the Eastern Coachella Valley, Best Start Region 4 – Port Cities
Mapping and data visualization
- Our team builds compelling data visuals and maps to support community partners and highlight racial inequities. From interactive web reports to printable briefs, we create data visualizations that communicate findings and tell stories clearly and beautifully.
- Project Examples: We the Resilient, FightAsthma Long Beach-Los Angeles, Redistricting 2021: Equity Indicators
Building tools for community advocacy and reinvestment
- We leverage data to highlight the assets and historical injustices in communities impacted by inequities. We build interactive data-driven tools and profiles that help people understand and advocate for investments in these communities and track changes over time.
- Project Examples: Justice Equity Services Index, Justice Equity Need Index, COVID-19: Statewide Vulnerability & Recovery Index, WeBudgetLA
Creating rapid response work
- We lean into audacity with our willingness to create research that is responsive to quickly changing contexts and policies. We are experienced in balancing the need for rigor with the need to provide analysis that is used in policymaking decisions.
- Project example: Standing Up for Students, COVID-19 Priority Places Index, Mapping the Hardest to Count Census Tracts