Is GIS an effective advocacy tool or is it just hype? You probably already know how the REP will answer that question. We believe that GIS and data analysis can be used as an amazingly effective advocacy tool. Not only does GIS allow advocates to capture and demonstrate the spatial component of poverty but GIS and data analysis offer advocates a method to capture the rare ground of being perceived as objective. positions.

We’ve noticed, however, that there is a dearth of examples of how GIS has been used to support advocacy projects. There is also precious little discussion on how design choices are critical to effective “persuasive mapping.” Most poverty attorneys have no problem agonizing over word choice but we rarely extend the same considerations to map design.

In an effort to remedy these problems, we have a spanking-new application of GIS in poverty advocacy to share with you.

The Stage Is Set

In California, county’s are required to provide “last resort” medical services to indigent residents. Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 17000. Sacramento County provides these services via the County Medically Indigent Services Program (“CMSISP”). Recently, Sacramento County proposed severe cuts to CMISP. Pursuant to state law, the County was required to provide a public hearing on the proposed reductions with fourteen days prior notice. Cal. Health & Safety § 1442.5. The County proposed cutting CMISP by 52.7 full-time employees. Several of the positions proposed for elimination were RN and public health nurse position. Interested in a complete listing of the proposed reductions? Take a look a look at the proposed reductions.

The Maps

The following maps were submitted to the Board of Supervisors with the Race Equity Project’s written statements regarding the proposed reductions. Several of the maps were also presented to the Board during the Race Equity Project’s oral testimony.

This map depicts the locations of the proposed cuts, the proposed staff reductions, and describes the proposed reductions. The map was purposefully designed to look crowded with call-out boxes describing describing the proposed reductions to highlight the scope and breadth of the proposed cuts (i.e. there are so many cuts that text descriptions of the cuts fill the entire map).

This map depicts the CMISP eligible population within the City of Sacramento and the current location of CMISP clinics. One dot equals one CMISP eligible person. The map was designed to highlight the large number of CMISP service consumers in the city. To accomplish this purpose we used a one to one relationship between dots and CMISP eligible persons and a large dot size and choose a dot color that was visually overpowering thus making the dots the fist thing you notice when you see the map.

This map was designed to highlight the disparate impact of proposed reductions at a specific clinic would have on persons with limited English proficiency. The color scheme for the two categories of persons (i.e. the dots) was chosen to highlight the category of limited English proficient persons.

This map depicts the CMISP eligible population by race/ethnicity (White or Of Color). The dot color scheme was chosen to accentuate the CMISP eligible population of color.

This map depicts the CMISP eligible population that resides in proximity to three CMISP clinics where reductions were proposed. The dot color scheme was chosen to accentuate the CMISP eligible population of color and the disparate impact of the proposed reductions.

This map depicts the CMISP eligible population that resides in proximity to a single CMISP clinics were reductions were proposed. The dot color scheme was chosen to accentuate the CMISP eligible population of color and the disparate impact of the proposed reductions.

This map depict the the difference in expected travel time to receive medical services if a specific CMISP clinic was closed as proposed. The location of the “fictional” CMISP client was obtained from actual CMISP client records. An intuitive color scheme was chosen to depict the routes. The route color scheme (green and red) also suggests the “goodness”/undesirability of a particular route.

All maps were produced by Eric Schultheis, Staff Attorney, using desktop GIS software and Census data.

The Race Equity Project was able to design and produce these maps in under ten days. We believe that the unpredictable and often fast-paced nature of poverty advocacy and the varied types of poverty advocacy scenarios where maps can be used argue in favor of developing in-house GIS capacity. Absent in-house capacity, it is, at best, questionable whether the Race Equity Project could have used GIS and maps to advocate against the above-discussed healthcare reductions.