Popular Press
Financial Inclusion & Citizen Participation Project: Bridging the data gap for low-income communities
New America Post - Blog
(2018)
Abstract
The New America Public Interest Technology "Financial Inclusion & Citizen Participation" (FI&CP) project initiated new ways to demonstrate the use of private data for public good. The Bronx, Chicago, New Orleans and St. Louis case study cities held similarly high rates of economic disaggregation, low rates of banking options, and limited ways to evaluate financial opportunities for low-impact communities. The FI&CP project was able to demonstrate the use contemporary tools for data development& sharing using public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) models. A common issue for each city also included ways to develop and examine small / community and large / transaction data. Since these data are not typically interoperable, the FI&CP focused on financial education organizations and systems that aid in expanding the  economic potential of formerly unbankable individuals. In the Bronx (NY) and St. Louis (MO) there has been a multi-pronged approach to increasing financial education. Through a variety of community and government engagements, the FI&CP was able to share insights from the prior PPGIS projects and share reports and strategies from prior WhoData PPGIS projects. With generous support from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth (McIG), Thompson served as mentor to emerging Citizen Scientists for the public& private participation GIS (p3GIS) demonstration projects in Chicago (IL) and New Orleans (LA). Using Federal Geographic Data Committee development and sharing standards, the Neighborhood Development Foundation (New Orleans) and Northwest Side Housing Center (NWSHC) worked with University of New Orleans and University of Chicago Technologists, respectively, to create and spatially analyze client profiles and the financial impact of those who successfully completed their Homebuyer and/or Financial Education courses. For example, NDF assisted 3,453 first-time homeowners from 1986-2017 which contributed $223,981,061 to the New Orleans economy. Separately, McIG was able to launch the inaugural data philanthropy project using the FI&CP to advance both policy and practice using Mastercard anonymized and aggregated transaction data. We continue to evaluate p3GIS can inform Citizen Scientists and Technologists to aid in driving private data to aid communities to reduce poverty for a better quality of life.
Keywords
- community development,
- financial inclusion,
- citizen participation,
- geographic information systems
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter February 9, 2018
Citation Information
Michelle M. Thompson. "Financial Inclusion & Citizen Participation Project: Bridging the data gap for low-income communities" New America Post - Blog (2018) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/michelle_m_thompson/75/