CAGIS Seminar, September 25th: Justin Lane talks about the Opportunity Atlas

September 19, 2019
Categories: News

We are pleased to welcome Justin Lane from the Urban Institute for our next CAGIS Seminar. Justin will be talking about one of the most influential mapping projects to date, the Opportunity Atlas, with special attention to how the maps are being used in Charlotte.

We would enjoy seeing you at 1:00 in the CAGIS Collaboration room.

Doug, on behalf of the CAGIS Seminar Committee

More on the Opportunity Atlas here. More on Justin Lane here. More on Raj Chetty here

Utilizing the Opportunity Atlas to influence and drive policy in Charlotte, NC. A result of the body of research by Raj Chetty and colleagues, which integrated all IRS and Census data for a cohort of individuals born through a period in the 80s, the Opportunity Atlas allowed for tracking economic mobility and opportunity associated with where the individual was born. Notably, Charlotte was identified as 50th out of 50 in terms of economic mobility. This is at odds with a number of phenomena that have been and currently are playing out in the city/community: Between 2004 and 2013, the number of jobs in Charlotte grew by 2.6% per year on average, which made Charlotte one of the nation’s fastest growing economies But the city’s upward mobility rates paint a far different picture. Poor children who grew up in Charlotte earned an average of only $26,000 as adults, one of the country’s lowest mobility rates. As a result of this research, the team led by Dr. Chetty developed a mapping tool and a policy institute aimed at utilizing the data and findings to provide local policymakers and service providers the information to drive and effectively change policy and programming. Charlotte was one of the first cities the team at Harvard identified to pilot the work. The UNC Charlotte Urban Institute partnered with the Opportunity Insights team in September 2018 and serve as the local partner. This presentation will focus on the production and utilization of the mapping tool both nationally and locally.