Inclusive Growth and Racial Equity in Grand Rapids: Trends and Data Use

Inclusive Growth and Racial Equity in Grand Rapids: Trends and Data Use

Part of the Johnson Center’s free Brown Bag Lunch & Learn series

Inclusive growth means that all communities have the opportunity to thrive. Community data broken down at the neighborhood level helps us understand how history, policy, and investment affects the conditions in our communities that construct those opportunities. Especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, community data remains even more important in guiding strategic decisions and keeping inclusive growth and racial equity at the forefront of our responses.

Drawing on the data from the Economic Inclusion in Grand Rapids Data Update underwritten by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, researcher Melyssa Tsai O’Brien will lead us through an exploration of the demographic and economic trends in Grand Rapids as a case study to understanding approaches for applying data to strategic decision-making.

Participants can expect to:

• Gain an understanding of demographic and economic trends in Grand Rapids
• Learn from community experiences and examples of using the data
• Practice applying the data from the report to strategic decision-making

This online workshop will be a live, interactive experience. It will not be recorded or available to registrants after the end of the live session.

Speaker:

Melyssa Tsai O’Brien, M.P.H. is a research manager for the Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. Since 2014, she has managed community-based research and evaluation projects, specifically through project planning, data collection, analysis, and reporting.