EDDIT News and Updates

Welcome to our news page, where we share the latest milestones and updates from the EDDIT team’s ongoing work in equitable development and urban data storytelling. Below you’ll find updates from across our growing list of clients and training programs. We’re excited to celebrate and learn from each organization’s innovative approach to using data for advancing urban equity—and we hope these stories inspire you, too!

Workshop in Urban Data Storytelling launching in 2025!

The Workshop in Urban Data Storytelling (WUDS) is a condensed, in-depth training program designed to help aspiring and practicing city building professionals leverage data analysis and storytelling to strengthen and advance planning-related projects in their communities.

The EDDIT team is excited to announce two program offerings: 

  • One month of virtual learning in May 2025 + 2-days in-person on June 4-5 at the University of Toronto
  • 5-days in-person on May 26-30, 2025 at the University of Toronto

For more details, check out our Programs page.

Celebrating the 2024 cohort at the EDDIT Showcase

The new year may be underway, but we’re still thinking about the 2024 Cohort Showcase back in December! Each of the four incredible organizations from the EDDIT 2024 Cohort shared their final presentations. Through these presentations, the teams applied the data storytelling skills they learned throughout the EDDIT training program, including selecting effective data sources and visualizations for different audiences, in order to make a compelling case for their equitable development project.

Be on the lookout for case summaries posted to our website, which will provide deeper insights about how the teams used data to support their specific equitable development projects.

Weekly data storytelling training begins for the 2024 cohort

The EDDIT team is excited to be meeting weekly with each of the 4 incredible organizations in the 2024 cohort! We will be walking through the data analysis and storytelling training, which has been tailored to each group’s equitable development project. Meet our EDDIT Data Leads, Jeff Allen and Julia Greenberg, who will be leading these live weekly data workshops! Jeff and Julia are highly experienced in urban data analytics and visualization and come with a breadth of knowledge about data sources and software relevant to those working to advance urban equity.

Highlights from the 2024 cohort site visits

Site visit highlights from the remaining two organizations of the 2024 cohort. Training workshops have begun and will conclude with a virtual showcase in early December where the cohort will present their final presentations. The EDDIT team is excited to share with, learn from, and celebrate this incredible group!

EDDIT in action

What does data storytelling look like, and how can it help make the case for the work of local governments and nonprofits in small and mid-sized cities? EDDIT’s first cohort has some answers and ideas. Watch their new video to learn more and see EDDIT in action!

Celebrating and showcasing data storytelling at the EDDIT Symposium

That's a wrap on the EDDIT Symposium! We had the most wonderful time in Toronto meeting and celebrating with the 10 incredible organizations in our 2023 and 2024 cohorts. Thank you to all the participants and our partners TheCaseMade and School of Cities, University of Toronto for making this event a huge success!

Announcing the EDDIT 2024 cohort!

Introducing the EDDIT cohort for 2024! EDDIT is thrilled to be partnering with four more organizations! The EDDIT Team had a great virtual kick-off session with these new partners. Planning is underway for site visits this summer. Learn more about this passionate group and the equitable development projects they are leading below!

Weekly data storytelling training begins for the 2023 cohort

The EDDIT team is excited to be meeting weekly with each of the 6 incredible organizations in the 2023 cohort to walk through a data analysis and storytelling training that has been tailored to each group’s equitable development project. Each week, the cohort teams participate in a live, 90 minute workshop facilitated by the EDDIT team. In this process, we work together using an iterative and collaborative approach to identify relevant data sources, understand their strengths and pitfalls, and co-create data products that support each team's specific case and equitable development project. In addition to the live workshops, the cohort teams are also provided with short video lectures to watch on their own time and weekly assignments to put these skills into practice.

Highlights from the 2023 cohort site visits

Throughout the summer, the EDDIT team traveled to all six communities from the 2023 cohort for a 3-day site visit. From Northern Alberta to the New Mexico desert, the EDDIT team connected with the cohort members, learned about their communities, and deepened their understanding of the challenges each group is tackling as part of their urban equity projects.

Announcing the inaugural EDDIT 2023 cohort

The inaugural competitive application for EDDIT garnered lots of interest from both U.S. and Canadian organizations. In total, six stellar teams were selected to participate in the 2023 cohort. Each of these groups is undertaking incredible urban equity projects across a wide range of areas including affordable housing, tree equity, food security, economic development, and more.

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