Select Page

Digital Equity Database Initiative

If you’re here, it’s because you read the email and are interested in participating! We’re glad to have you onboard and want to give you some more information about the project. At the bottom of this page you’ll find a series of links to participate in this project. First, there is a link to a sample data sharing agreement. While this is an optional step, we recommend you connect with Data Driven Detroit to learn more about this process. After the data sharing agreement, there are instructions on how to upload your data and a link to a sample excel template that you may use to collect and share data. If you are ready to share your data, there is a section at the bottom of this website to do so. We are very excited to partner with you in this endeavor and please don’t hesitate to reach out to Data Driven Detroit at szarb@datadrivendetroit.org if you have any questions!

What is the project?

The Office of Digital Equity & Inclusion launched an interactive digital equity dashboard in March 2023. The goal was to provide residents and stakeholders with access to key data about Detroit’s digital divide to drive decision making. Although we are really excited about this first portal, we know there is room for growth, and that there is a need to provide more accurate demographic data about residents for whom digital equity is an everyday challenge. In order to understand the community needs that will inform how our office and our partners work to solve the digital divide, we want to make sure that the data we’re using accurately represents and reflects the communities we serve.

Project Overview and Expected Outcomes

To solve this challenge, we are embarking on an 18-month project focused on providing open access to city of Detroit and metro Detroit demographic data that will include various under-reported and under-represented groups, and how each of these populations experiences the digital divide. Specifically, we’re looking to better understand characteristics and needs of (1) elderly residents, (2) veterans, (3) K-12 parents/students, (4) residents with disabilities, (5) ESL residents, (6) returning citizens, and (7) 25-45 year-olds.

Over the next 11 months, the Office of Digital Equity & Inclusion will be working collaboratively with Data Driven Detroit (D3) and Ready.net to gather data from state, county and local government agencies, as well as local nonprofits. Current demographic data being used to drive decision-making primarily comes from open source data that has shown inaccuracies. With this project our goal is to provide accurate data that will enable us to answer questions that are not currently available through census data, including how members of each of these groups are accessing the internet, the number of people who need or don’t need digital literacy tools and resources, how many Detroiters are interested or participating in the IT workforce in Detroit, and the number of tech entrepreneurs or businesses supporting the tech industry in the City of Detroit.

At the completion of this project, we plan to publish all data that we have collected at an aggregated level through an interactive, online web portal that will provide you with the ability to download excel spreadsheets, charts, and infographics about the digital divide and the people who it most strongly affects.

What will happen with the data?

Data Driven Detroit will work with partners to receive initial exports of their data, and will integrate this into our data warehouse. Access will be controlled as needed to preserve individual privacy and confidentiality of the data. After creating the data structure that will house the exports from community partners, that data will be cleaned so that it may be integrated into the database. This process will involve standardizing records to create unique identifiers, and anonymizing the data as needed to protect the privacy of the people represented by the records. After the data has been cleaned and integrated, D3 will continue to host the database for the remainder of the contract period. Use of the data beyond the completion of the project will be determined by data sharing agreements and continued funding to support the work.

How will the data be kept private?

Through his process, Data Driven Detroit may receive and store sensitive information from community partners about individuals. D3 will collect and store this information securely so that personally-identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive information is not viewable at a record level. However, D3 will aggregate the data to neighborhood or Council District level to present data about Digital Equity in Detroit to a broad audience. This data will be used to inform decision making regarding future initiative and investment opportunities in Digital Equity by policy makers and Community Development Organizations.

How do I sign a data sharing agreement to protect my organization’s data?

Please click below to be connected with a Data Driven Detroit employee who can outline the data sharing process with you. The second link will take you to a sample data sharing agreement.

Data Sharing Agreement Request
The information below will be used to populate the agreement and send to you for review
Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.