Meet the EDDIT Clients
Since 2023, EDDIT has worked closely with clients in the public and non-profit sectors to design and deliver personalized data storytelling for local equitable development projects. Our clients are located across Canada and the U.S., and are working to design, uplift, or implement a range of local equitable development, ranging from environmental justice to equitable economic development and housing affordability.
Read our 2023 Case Summaries below to learn more about our clients, their work, and how we supported them in using data storytelling to pursue their goals. Or download our 2023-2024 Case Summary PDF to read more.
2023 Cohort
The inaugural 2023 cohort included six diverse organizations from small and mid-sized cities in the U.S. and Canada, selected through a competitive application process. Each participating team undertook a 9 month learning journey that included a site visit, 1-1 coaching, and 12 weeks of instruction capped off with an in-person symposium in Toronto, Canada. The cohort’s areas of focus range from environmental justice to equitable economic development and housing affordability. Learn more about each organization below.
Cone Health Foundation in partnership with the City of Greensboro
Location:
Greensboro, NC
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
This project is a partnership between the City of Greensboro and The Cone Health Foundation. Together, they aim to support food security and upward economic mobility in low-wealth neighborhoods, such as East Greensboro, and to better communicate data about these topics to the public.
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Location:
Wood Buffalo, Alberta, Canada
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo aims to assess and understand the issue of housing affordability in their region, addressing the unique housing needs of their urban and rural populations.
City of Albuquerque, Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency
Location:
Albuquerque, NM
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
The City of Albuquerque Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency is redeveloping a 7-mile rail corridor in Downtown Albuquerque into an urban trail, focusing on stimulating economic, cultural, and recreational development in the surrounding neighborhoods, while also implementing anti-displacement strategies. The City aims to build a data dashboard to improve data accessibility and communication between the City and residents.
Business High Point Chamber of Commerce
Location:
High Point, NC
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
The Business High Point Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Change Often LLC, aim to assess two initiatives: Thrive High Point, a program that helps Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals (SEDI) entrepreneurs scale their businesses, access capital, and find retail space; and Shop on Washington, an initiative to reinvest in brick-and-mortar businesses along Washington Street in High Point, NC.
The Community Builders
Location:
Worcester, MA
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
The Community Builders aim to assess the impacts of the Community Life resident services program on their affordable residences across the U.S. by reviewing development, property management, and service data. The Plumley Village site in Worcester, MA, will be used as a case study for this assessment.
Groundwork Bridgeport
Location:
Bridgeport, CT
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
Groundwork Bridgeport aims to increase tree equity in Bridgeport, CT, focusing on neighborhoods with lower tree coverage, such as the East Side. Through their Adopt-A-Tree program and volunteer tree planting programs, they educate the community about the health, environmental, and civic benefits of trees.
2024 Cohort
Four organizations have been selected for the 2024 cohort. Learn more about them below.
City of Champaign, IL
Location:
Champaign, IL
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
The City of Champaign aims to advance and promote equitable community investments and reduce gun violence by addressing its root causes. In recent years, the City of Champaign has invested in equitable infrastructure projects in the Garden Hills neighborhood with the goal of reducing flooding, improving access to green space, promoting walkability, and increasing public safety. Simultaneously, the City has also been implementing the Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint, an innovative citywide strategy to address the root causes of gun violence.
City of Eau Claire, WI
Location:
Eau Claire, WI
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
The City of Eau Claire aims to improve equitable public transportation access in their community. The City wishes to improve coverage and increase ridership by focusing on building transit awareness in the community, while simultaneously developing long-term financial partnerships with major employers and educators throughout the City. The City of Eau Claire has received ARPA funding that will support efforts to increase transit ridership and access, build more affordable housing and a daytime homeless shelter, and the creation of an EDI strategy.
Cross Community Climate Collaborative (C4)
Location:
West Central Cook County, IL
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
The City of Champaign aims to advance and promote equitable community investments and reduce gun violence by addressing its root causes. In recent years, the City of Champaign has invested in equitable infrastructure projects in the Garden Hills neighborhood with the goal of reducing flooding, improving access to green space, promoting walkability, and increasing public safety. Simultaneously, the City has also been implementing the Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint, an innovative citywide strategy to address the root causes of gun violence.
Downtown Halifax Business Commission
Location:
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Equitable Development Project or Area of Focus:
The Downtown Halifax Business Commission (DHBC) is the business improvement district that represents and advocates for over 1600 businesses in the urban core of Halifax. In June 2024, the DHBC launched their Downtown Halifax Vision 2030, which offers a new vision for how to build on the area’s success, synergize with major projects in the area, and revitalize Halifax’s downtown for all to enjoy. Their next goal is to mobilize champions who will co-own and implement the actions listed within the Vision, who will move the Vision towards reality, and then ultimately share in the success of downtown.
As planners we are often aware of what the problem is, and what our data is telling us, yet that doesn't always get us anywhere. EDDIT helped open our minds to try and un-learn some of what we have been doing and try a different way of doing things, based in the belief that we have the capacity to make positive change today so that we can get to a better future tomorrow.
Isela Contreras-Dogbe
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
A memorable insight from our time with EDDIT was when they [the EDDIT team] visited our community. It gave me a chance to tag along and visit the community assets we have in our neighborhoods, listen to conversations with stakeholders, and learn the passion and zeal these stakeholders have for their community. That was an "aha" moment for us -- to build our community engagement and engage every single aspect of our community stakeholders as we make decisions.
Martin Byaruhanga
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Program Manager, Community Partnership and Initiatives
The team brought a dynamic way of looking at existing resources from different perspectives, including figuring out how to apply an equity lens to the data that we have.
Martin Byaruhanga
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Program Manager, Community Partnership and Initiatives
Being part of the EDDIT cohort, I have learned more about how I can visualize and tell a story with the data that we have, and how we can reframe it to answer objective questions. I would say I'm confident in continuing to leverage the resources that we were provided through EDDIT.
Martin Byaruhanga
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Program Manager, Community Partnership and Initiatives
My key takeaway from this training was to shift from a problem-based perspective to a solution-based one.
Martin Byaruhanga
Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Program Manager, Community Partnership and Initiatives
You really learn so much more about your project than you thought you were going to. EDDIT really gives you those tools necessary to make those big asks in the future and get the community involved in the future. And I would just absolutely recommend it to everybody.
Sarah Supple
City of Albuquerque
Operations Manager + Public Information Officer
A win that has come from EDDIT training is I feel like I can better verbalize my ask towards our audience, our target audience in the real world. I feel like I'm more comfortable talking about our project publicly, just generally speaking, whether it's to our community directors or whether it's to the community members. EDDIT has given me these tools to really feel comfortable in the way that I deliver the message.
Sarah Supple
City of Albuquerque
Operations Manager + Public Information Officer
EDDIT has expanded our understanding of equitable development and how to tackle that in other projects moving forward.
Sarah Supple
City of Albuquerque
Operations Manager + Public Information Officer
EDDIT has changed my approach to everything that we do. After every single session I would sit there and not only think about how it applies to the Rail Trail, but also how it applies to our Downtown Forward efforts and our other grant programs. I was like, oh my gosh, we can use this for absolutely everything that we're doing!
Sarah Supple
City of Albuquerque
Operations Manager + Public Information Officer
I feel more confident using data to support our call to action. I feel like I have a better sense of purpose for our data and a clearer sense of how I want to use it in order to make our case.
Sarah Supple
City of Albuquerque
Operations Manager + Public Information Officer
If you are considering working with the EDDIT team, do it. Do it. You will not regret it. You will learn a lot more than you thought you would learn.
Dr. Telisha Robers
Business High Point
Executive Director of Thrive High Point