Participatory Approaches for Centering Racial Equity throughout the Data Life Cycle

Administrative data hold immense potential for advancing equity and evidence-based science. Yet, too often, these systems perpetuate bias due to historical and systemic inequities embedded in administrative data. This session presents findings from a Participatory Action Research (PAR) initiative led by Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) at the University of Pennsylvania from 2018-2025 to reimagine how data are collected, governed, and used to promote racial and social justice within social policy and practice. A key outcome of this research is the Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration, originally released in 2020 and updated in 2025 to reflect emerging challenges and innovations in administrative data use. In this session, presenters will discuss how participatory research shaped Toolkit updates and share best practices and real-world examples of using administrative data to promote equity in health and human service settings. The organizing speaker will provide an overview of the PAR methods used in this endeavor, including the formulation of a national working group of civic data leaders and advocates and AISPs Equity in Practice Learning Community (EiPLC), an initiative supporting ten state and local agencies in integrating equity principles into data infrastructure. Panelists from the national working group and EiPLC will then share their experiences with the PAR processes and highlight key updates to the Toolkit. One panelist will discuss their contributions to new guidance on working with Tribal data partners and engaging Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles. Another panelist will focus on data standards related to Race, Ethnicity, Language, Disability (RELD) and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGIE) and new guidance in the Toolkit for using (and mitigating risk related to) Artificial Intelligence and Algorithms. Finally, a fourth panelist will discuss the ways in which the Toolkit has shaped their approach to social policy research and data collaborations within their local community. Throughout the roundtable discussion, participants will be engaged in interactive discussions about the challenges and opportunities of centering equity in administrative data use. Presenters will share actionable strategies from the Toolkit and facilitate dialogue on overcoming barriers to equitable data practices. Attendees will leave with concrete tools and examples to draw upon in their own research, policy, and practice settings.