What We Do
Good intentions and the passage of time are insufficient. Deliberate, informed, and measured action is needed.
Systems of oppression continue to cause multigenerational harm to communities of color and other oppressed communities. Inaction perpetuates power inequities that result in continued and compounding gaps in health, wealth, and happiness.
We can and should all do better
Equity Analytics Group works with public and private agencies that are invested in taking steps to understand and reduce inequities within their organization, and as a result, contribute to our collective progress along the long road to equity. Understanding starts with gaining visibility to the inequities within your core practices. Gaining a rigorous and objective evidence-based understanding of the inequities within your target area and internal practices is the first powerful step toward building deliberate and specific action plans to mitigate them.
Hope and luck is not a plan
If you think inequities only take place at other organizations, but you’ve not scientifically investigated your own practices, you are likely contributing to the problem and not aware of it. The consequences are too great to our community and to your organization to guess or assume - take action to understand the current equity landscape in your organization and use this understanding to drive specific and intentional actions to reduce disparities.
“Equity Analytics Group has been crucial in conducting and translating sophisticated statistical analysis to me and my Leadership team. All of which has allowed me to produce actionable strategies to improve the equity and overall quality of our clinical care.
As someone who knew very little at the beginning of our project, Jamie and his team have been valuable guides in navigating the complicated care equity space.”
—Rob McDonald, Operations Manager, American Medical Response
Research
Our work is designed to be applied directly and immediately to the work at hand and the communities served. In addition, Equity Analytics Group is actively engaged in contributing to a broader community through publishing research in leading scientific and academic journals and presenting at industry-specific conferences, often with clients as our co-authors.
Racial Treatment Disparities for Traumatic Injuries
Do we all receive the same quality of healthcare when calling 911? Most healthcare providers don’t decide to provide racial minorities with substandard care, yet there is clear evidence that treatment disparities take place. This work was recently awarded the Top Trauma Research Award at the World Trauma Symposium Conference in Atlanta. Read our peer-reviewed published research on racial treatment disparities when Oregonians call Emergency Medical Services for healthcare treatment after having a traumatic injury, and watch as our work is discussed as the featured research at the Journal or Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) webcast titled "Disparities in EMS Care: Best Practices in Assessment, Current Findings, and Suggestions for Improvement."
Systemic Risk, Resilience, and Circular Economy Networks in Washington State
To prepare for and navigate through times of crisis and emergency, resilience hubs have sprung up in areas most impacted by climate, health, and environmental disparities. However, what often gets overlooked is the influence of community-driven circular economies.
By comparing geographic patterns of risk and resilience to a state-wide network of local circular economies focused on reuse, repair, share, compost, etc. in Washington compounding threats to community resilience as well as opportunities for network development, capacity-building, and funding were identified.
This analysis resulted in an interactive map that demonstrates where investment and assistance are more and less concentrated; helps visualize alternative material-based, circular economies as “work already being done” by communities; builds on publicly available data to gain insight into systemic risks and threats to resilience; and shows the context in which locally-run circular initiatives operate, including their respective risks and threats to community resilience.
The resulting map and analysis is available here.
Sexual Health Promotion Programs
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disproportionately affects Black men who have sex with men (MSM), yet there are few evidence-based interventions specifically designed for Black MSM communities. In response, we were part of a team that created and analyzed an experimental educational intervention called Real Talk, a technology-delivered, sexual health program for Black MSM. Read about the peer-reviewed published results here.
Obesity Bias in Emergency Medical Services Treatment
In the US, Individuals with obesity live with significant stigma which often negatively impacts fundamental aspects of their lives including education and job attainment, earning power, mental and physical health, and also the quality of the healthcare they receive. We investigated if, and how severe, individuals with obesity receive substandard care when calling 911 for Emergency Medical Services treatment. Read our findings in the forthcoming book “International Handbook of the Demography of Obesity published by Switzerland AG: Springer Nature.
Multnomah County Central Courthouse Construction Project Equity Analysis
The ability to compare contract award amounts
and hours worked by race/ethnicity, gender, craft, job level, region of residence, and pay rate for publicly funded construction projects allows for rapid and comprehensive assessment of the degrees to which diversity-related goals are being met, and evaluation of the relative progress towards equitable distribution of work and wages made from one project to another.
We believe that access to these metrics in clear and easy to understand figures at regular intervals in a project’s timeline will be helpful a variety of audiences and will encourage public engagement and understanding of public works.
In this report we present our analysis of contract values and workforce hours (as of June 2019) for the Multnomah County Central Courthouse Project (MCCCP), a publicly funded construction project currently in process..
"Equity Analytics Group is a true partner in advancing equity work and changing systems that have marginalized and harmed BIPOC communities. They care about creating an equitable, inclusive, and just future by using data to inform change."
— Elizabeth Chin Start, Principal Consultant, Start Consulting
Organization & Program Assessment
Increasingly, organizations and programs include statements about increasing equity and commitments to reducing disparities. We applaud these intentions and at the same time encourage honest conversations about how these commitments will be evaluated. When your board of directors asks you if you achieved your goals, what will you tell them? Equity Analytics Group can help your organization establish clear, interpretable, repeatable, and meaningful performance measures, the systems needed to gather relevant data, and perform the analysis needed to communicate your successes to a variety of audiences.
City of Portland - Prime Contractor Development Program
The City of Portland engaged in an innovative and targeted program to improve equity in the construction industry in the city. The Prime Contractor Development Program demonstrated that through supporting contractors from communities that had been previously excluded from the industry with education, strategic support, and business development opportunities, the landscape of inequality can be changed. This bold and long-term program changed the business trajectory and opened opportunities for businesses owned by people of color and women in the Portland, OR area and serves as a model for other cities and industries seeking to do the same. Learn more in the Prime Contractor Development Program Annual Report 2018/19.
City of Vancouver - Emergency Medical Services
The City of Vancouver engaged Equity Analytics Group to examine if racial minorities were being provided with sub-standard care by their emergency medical services providers (City of Vancouver Fire Department and American Medical Response) and what were the process, policies, and procedures that allowed for racial treatment disparities to take place. Read the full report here.
City of Portland - Waste Workforce Equity
A demographic study of the waste collection workforce from 2021 and 2022. This establishes a baseline for measuring progress as BPS works with haulers to take steps to increase recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion of people of color and women in the waste collection industry.
Read the full report here.
Oregon Convention Center Remodel
In 2017 Colas Construction, a minority-owned family business, earned the contract to conduct a major renovation of the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Or. In their proposal they identified ambitious goals for a more diverse workforce and subcontractor engagement. Their innovative strategies and dedication to equity demonstrated that an equitable and diverse approach is not only possible, but sustainable. Read the publicly available report here.
