David Corliss
All analytics begins with data. When data on a particular community hasn’t been collected, curated, and made available, addressing the communities needs faces challenges and limitations. This is why the Latino Policy and Politics Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles created the Latino Data Hub. Launched in October 2023 and directed by social science researcher and policy advocate Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, the hub extracts, combines, and curates data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, UPUMS, University of Minnesota, and other leading sources to offer a reliable, multi-faceted data resource for the Latino community in the United States. The Latino Data Hub provides critically needed data and analytics to support research, understanding, and better outcomes for this often-marginalized community.
The Latino Data Hub provides critically needed data and analytics to support research, understanding, and better outcomes for this often-marginalized community.”
The hub has a wide variety of data, including demographics, economic, voting, and more. One type of hard-to-find data on the hub covers people with disabilities. The website is well designed, interactive, and easy to use. As a long-time demographer, I can say it does an excellent job of finding the most important data and making it accessible for everyone. The hub also provides high-quality infographics with drill-down capability. The infographics and enhanced by many data filters that can be applied, including age range, nativity and citizenship, educational attainment, economics and home ownership, and income and poverty.
The hub is a key source of support for policy initiatives. Through a series of action labs, the hub connects with key advocacy groups in communities across the country to drive data-driven policymaking. The hub’s resources provide policymakers and media outlets desperately needed data. It’s also a resource for leaders of foundations and NGOs targeting issues affecting the Latino community, who can leverage the hub to understand needs, resources, and effectively engage with challenges to drive community action and effective, durable change.
The hub also organizes events around the country, partnering with local organizations to target important issues. For example, it hosted on online panel discussion on the power of the Latino voters in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia ahead of the 2024 election. The event brought together LPPI experts with leaders in Latino voter action and advocacy to inform and guide local advocates in their work. Another event in August responded to rapid changes in the federal data landscape by teaming hub leaders with Lynda Kellam from the Data Rescue Project on new updates to hub data and resources.
The vision statement of the LPPI calls for “policymaking that centers on the needs of Latinos and communities of color, to operationalize dignity and opportunity.” In addition to making this vision a reality, the Latino Data Hub is also an incredibly sophisticated tool for data and analytics. Advocates in any area will benefit from taking a long look at this site, especially its design, ease of access, and infographics. It’s just an outstanding example of what a data website should be (and seldom is). So, head over to the UCLA’s Latino Data Hub, check it out, and see the opportunities that wait for your there.
David Corliss
With a PhD in statistical astrophysics, David Corliss works as a data scientist in industry. He serves on the ASA Board as a Council of Chapters representative and is the founder of Peace-Work, a data for good nongovernmental organization.
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