Workshop — Guided by Community
Avoiding Unintentional Harm Through Analysis and Evaluation
If your organization receives grant funding, reports outcomes to funders, or uses data to make decisions about communities — clear your calendar for this one.
Most data harm isn't intentional.
It happens in how a question gets framed.
Which populations get counted.
Whose story gets told.
The Problem
For organizations working in and alongside vulnerable communities — particularly those facing environmental injustice — these aren't abstract concerns. They show up in funding decisions, program design, and policy outcomes.
FACTUAL
DOES NOT
MEAN RIGHT.
The Framework
Taking a holistic approach to data — addressing bias, defining real goals, humanizing insights, and considering impact beyond the analysis.
Data often shifts the burden of change onto affected populations, overlooking the responsible party or required systemic action. Population + Money ≠ Long-Term Solution.
How you interpret data changes how your audience sees the problem and how you approach a solution. Standard interpretations may not be enough.
When data are used against a person or group to justify harmful outcomes. Data + Power + Capitalism = Disparate Impact.
When comparing racially disaggregated data, avoid framing one population as the "gold standard" or unnecessarily othering a group.
When a person or organization prioritizes their own needs over the community's. Saving over assisting. Ask and listen — don't assume.
This Is For You If…
You'll Leave With
Recognize the six ways data framing causes unintentional harm — and why funders are increasingly paying attention
Audit your current data and reporting practices for blind spots before they surface in a funder review
Apply more equitable approaches at every stage — from what you measure to how you report it
Strengthen the credibility and impact of your outcomes data with communities and funders alike
Workshop Format
Your Facilitator
Lakeshia Wright, AICP, is the Founder and Principal of Guided by Community, a Spatial Strategy Studio for Learning, Engagement, and Connection based in Oak Park, Illinois.
Her work sits at the intersection of urban planning, community development, inclusive design, and data practice. She brings deep experience across nonprofits, planning organizations, and corporate contexts — and has spent years studying exactly where data goes wrong in community-serving work.
Thoughtful Data is an interactive, discussion-driven session — not a lecture. Lakeshia's facilitation style is grounded in the principle that we are all experts in our own data, and that thoughtfulness is a practice, not a destination.
The communities you serve can't afford for data to misrepresent them. Neither can your organization.
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