ESRI and i.am.angel foundation team up to map struggling neighborhoods

In tandem with the launch of The Black Eyed Peas’ #WHERESTHELOVE campaign, the i.am.angel Foundation, and foundation education partner and smart mapping company Esri reveal the results of a Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping project that maps all U.S. neighborhoods and draws attention to those that are struggling due to low spending on education, high unemployment, high poverty and murder rates.

Using data from the Sentencing Project, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Association of State Budget Officers, the U.S. Census Bureau, and its own Living Atlas of the World, Esri assembled maps that give context about communities in crisis, plagued by police killing unarmed civilians, civilians killing police officers, and civilians killing each other based upon hate and intolerance around race, gender and religious beliefs including: Baltimore, Maryland; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Ferguson, Missouri; St. Paul, Minnesota, New York City and Sanford/Orlando, Florida. The maps are available for any city, town or rural area in the U.S.

“I am so inspired by will.i.am, the Black Eyed Peas, and the i.am.angel Foundation,” said Jack Dangermond, president of Esri, “They are change agents for communities with the work they do focused on youth and advancing STEM education.”

Results of the mapping project can be found here, or viewed in the story map experience below.

Since 1969, Esri has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, Esri software is used in more than 350,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. In 2013, the i.am.angel foundation started partnering with Esri to provide its GIS mapping software to schools in Boyle Heights, east Los Angeles.  Hundreds of students have since used Esri mapping technology in research projects and community activism, even presenting their work at conferences.

For more information about i.am.angel’s collaboration with Esri, visit our i.am Esri program page.