Our society is creating and consuming data faster and more than ever before. Ninety percent of today’s data was produced in the last two years. From enabling companies to produce better, cheaper products, to putting banking, transport, and food services at our fingertips, data is transforming our everyday transactions and experiences. Like a watchful neighbor, data knows our comings and goings, who we vote for, when we go for our daily run, and our favorite takeout. What data knows is highly valued. So much so, that data, not oil, is now the world’s most valuable resource, as reported by The Economist magazine. What does this shift mean for society, and how can government leverage data’s value for the benefit of communities of color?

Data for Public Good

Data provides an opportunity for government to be more effective and produce broad value for society. US government data powers the apps that bring us the current weather and help us navigate our commutes. Like the big data companies, Amazon, Facebook, and Google, that have learned to target services to consumers, government is also beginning to use data to provide better, more targeted services for citizens.

When we served in government, we worked to make government more innovative and more open to society. We promoted the potential of data, technology, and innovation to drive social impact, and we led the creation of policies to support community solutions. Less than a decade later, we are seeing the evolution of government innovation to solve local problems, and the key differentiator is data.

Cities are Leading Innovation

Cities are finding themselves at the forefront of applying solutions to complex problems. From climate change to poverty to education, cities are turning to data to find answers and to better communicate with and strengthen communities. In 2017, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma tested the capacity of Houston and Miami to respond to emergencies. Both cities experienced the power of data to help leaders and residents manage through a disaster, from coordinating evacuations and saving lives to directing relief and aid. US cities are embracing digital tools to link citizens to a host of services, such as information to improve maternal health and reduce infant mortality, education resources to improve student outcomes, transit options, and public safety information. San Jose, San Francisco, Detroit, Boston, and Washington, D.C. are among a number of cities that are experimenting with new structures, including innovation offices and dedicated chief officer roles, to make government more responsive to the needs of citizens.

Do No Harm

This is an exciting moment for cities. While early civic innovations are being tested, there is great opportunity to do more to harness digital solutions. At the same time, cities cannot be distracted by the ‘shiny new thing’ when deep-seated problems like structural racism and poverty persist. It is important to note that the rapid growth in the digital economy is also leading to greater income inequality, gentrification, and displacement of long-standing communities. Data and tech alone will not fix these problems. Just applying these tools, without purposeful design that addresses core issues, will not address codified biases. Data has a dark side and a history of its use to persecute and victimize communities of color. Unethical studies, surveillance and monitoring, and  privacy breaches are examples of how data has been used against the public. The use of algorithms has revealed how data-driven solutions can perpetuate bias and discriminate against communities, as illustrated by Amazon’s experience in Boston’s Roxbury community, the only neighborhood excluded from Amazon’s same-day delivery in Boston until the public took notice. To truly build data-driven cities that improve outcomes for all, city leaders need to acknowledge data’s risks and limitations, and commit to do no harm. Above all, cities will need to leverage data with intentionality and build trust, especially with communities of color.

New Rules, New Code

Communities are rightfully mistrustful of giving their information away. History shows that data has been used to discriminate against communities, such as credit scores in the US, which further perpetuate biases.  To build trust, cities can invite communities of color to participate in solving problems and listen to their key concerns. Cities can also facilitate deeper engagement, including investment in training, such as data, coding, and analysis, to equip communities to design better solutions. Technical skills are critical, but more needs to be done to improve data quality. Limited and wrong data can limit decision making. Cities need to seek better data and invite bottom-up solutions. To collect the right data, cities can shape data collection in response to challenges that communities identify. Increasingly, communities of color are advocating for action research and inclusive data to inform policies. By embracing a co-design approach, cities and communities can change the rules of the game.

To facilitate change, cities will need an inside/outside strategy. To start, they can invest in a new generation of public servants who view City Hall as an exciting place to embed new ideas and engage diverse communities. They also need to invest in digital technologies that re-build trust between citizens and government by providing better services, transparency, and feedback loops. In this new era, communities need to be informed and ready to act. This means actively participating in how digital technologies are built, critically assessing underlying algorithms to ensure they don’t further entrench systems of inequality, and advocating for civic voice and capacity in local decision making.

Conclusion

Data is changing how business gets done. As a society, we have the potential to re-write the rules and create a more level playing field. However, cities and communities need to leverage this moment to create a new relationship, one that values inclusion, civic engagement, and equity. For cities to deliver on the potential of data and technology, they need talent, effective engagement strategies, and ethical approaches to building solutions that work, especially for communities of color. The good news is that the digital era is enabling two-way communication and opportunities to improve service delivery, giving communities avenues to communicate with government and helping government be more responsive. Building the cities of the future—more equitable, efficient, and sustainable places to live where people from all backgrounds can interact with one another—will require giving communities of color a seat at the table, greater transparency, and control of their data, which is increasingly an essential asset in the 21st century.

Over the past 50 years, we have seen immense changes and improvements in technology—from cell phones and the internet becoming commonplace in the 1990s to social media becoming the norm in the early 2000s. Over the last decade, the Houston Area Urban League has had to adjust with the times and make a seemingly inevitable transition, transforming into a digital agency that utilizes emerging technology to communicate with stakeholders and serve our community.

In 2009, social media became a key tool in the agency’s outreach and advocacy initiatives. While we benefitted from social media’s cost-effectiveness, reach, and accessibility, we were keenly aware that for many, particularly millennials and Gen Z, social media was a vital means of communication. Our presence on these platforms became essential to our strategy to engage with those who will shape and lead our justice movement in the future. Today, we have more than 8,000 followers on Facebook, close to 1,200 on Instagram, more than 3,000 on Twitter, an email database of more than 12,000 individuals, and thousands of monthly unique visits to our  website.

In one instance, our collection of followers and emails became a life-saving tool. At the end of August 2017, Hurricane Harvey ravaged Houston with torrential rains that led to historic flooding. Social media was a key component of our Operation SAFE Houston efforts. We were able to provide real-time updates, sign up volunteers to distribute more than 9,000 items across the Houston area, and provide much-needed aid to approximately 1,600 families in the region.

Our agency’s programming has changed to reflect our digital reality. Our entrepreneurship center now offers an accelerator program for technology-based ventures. We aim to help minority-owned businesses use all the technological tools necessary to launch, scale and succeed in their communities. Since the accelerator program’s inception, the Houston Area Urban League has helped launch Spendebt, a tech finance venture; Twice Media Productions, a video and mobile marketing operation; and J. Hathaway, a consumer tech company. 

As the Houston Area Urban League keeps pace with the latest technologies, we will not waiver from our long-established 19th century mission and vision. The technological advances of today and tomorrow will further our  vision of gaining economic empowerment, providing educational opportunities and guaranteeing civil rights for the underserved.

Technological advancements have created numerous economic and social opportunities—and ancillary challenges. This Congress, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), has been focused on finding ways to advance the former and address the latter. We want to make sure that African Americans and other marginalized communities aren’t left behind in a nation and world that are becoming increasingly connected. 

Economic Challenges and Opportunities

The digitization of the global economy is transforming our nation’s workforce. One of the issues the CBC has been examining with stakeholders is the “future of work,” looking at how technology is changing workforce demands and what needs to be done to ensure African Americans are prepared for the jobs of the future. Part of this discussion has involved expanding access to STEM education and job training programs in both rural communities and inner cities. In addition, closing the digital divide that exists in these communities and exploring job opportunities in the cyber workforce are crucial as the internet of things creates more connected devices—and vulnerabilities.

Another part of this discussion has involved identifying new industries that could increase economic activity in the African-American community. One such industry is financial technology or “FinTech,” which seeks to better deliver financial services (e.g., online banking) through the use of technology (e.g., smartphones). The CBC has been fighting to ensure that growth in this emerging sector is equally shared, particularly in traditionally underserved communities.

The CBC has also been fighting to ensure that new technologies are not being developed with implicit bias built into the codes on which they operate to ensure that the automatic decisions these technologies make are not harmful to African-American consumers. As these technologies develop, the CBC is exploring the potential role of the federal government in preventing potential bad actors from using FinTech to exploit vulnerable consumers through predatory lending practices.

Finally, the CBC has been pushing our nation’s corporations in and outside of the technology industry to diversify their boards, c-suites, workforce, and suppliers. In fact, before corporations sit down with the CBC, we ask them for a detailed analysis of their diversity numbers. Promoting diversity at all levels of corporate America will help ensure companies make informed decisions about the demands of an increasingly diverse consumer base. In addition to being the right thing to do, diversity is good for business.

The CBC will continue to fight for policies that empower African Americans to compete in the global economy.

Social Challenges and Opportunities

Technological advancements have created social challenges and opportunities as well. This is especially true when it comes to voting rights. While technology is being used in some states to automatically register residents to vote or to make it easier for them to do so, it has also been used by foreign powers to undermine our elections.

In October, the CBC met with Facebook about ads Russia purchased on the platform to exploit racial divisions in the United States, which included a targeted attack on Black Lives Matter that, at times, characterized the group as violent. During the meeting, the CBC expressed to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in no uncertain terms that these racially divisive ads are completely unacceptable. According to a 2018 Pew Research Center suvey, Facebook is the primary social media platform for most Americans, with almost 70 percent of U.S. adults reporting that they are Facebook users. We impressed upon Sandberg that to whom much is given, much is required. The messages and images posted on Facebook impact not only the country, but the world; and Facebook has a responsibility to ensure that our enemies aren’t using its platform to incite racial violence and determine the leader of the free world.

Finally, we told Sandberg that the company’s lack of diversity might have prevented them from recognizing the problem sooner. Perhaps if Facebook had more African Americans conducting content analysis, someone would have noticed sooner that these ads were not what they seemed. Moreover, if Facebook had more African Americans in leadership positions, someone would have recognized that the company’s own content review policies admittedly failed to protect African-American users from being targeted on their platform. The CBC continues to engage Facebook and other social media companies to hold them accountable for the impact of their platforms on the African-American community.

Although the CBC is working hard to address these 21st century challenges, we have not taken our eyes off challenges unaddressed in the 20th century: pervasive voter suppression efforts, increasingly segregated public schools, and the broken criminal justice system. The CBC, also known as the conscience of the Congress since its establishment in 1971, will continue to inject moral leadership in Congress by identifying and addressing issues that affect African Americans and other marginalized communities now and in the decades to come. We will not surrender in the ongoing battle to advance African-American interests, from the halls of Congress, to the court rooms, and the board rooms.