Using Data to Promote Truthful Black Narratives
We are witnessing a full-on attack on data, research, and knowledge.
As we honor our embodied community wisdom, we know and understand that data is an important tool to offer necessary context and clarity about the society we inhabit.
The Black Future Co-op Fund launched the Black Wellbeing Report in 2021 to capture that community knowledge about what Black people in Washington need to be well.
This year, UC Berkeley's Othering & Belonging Institute produced the Racial Disparities Dashboard (“The Dashboard”), designed to be an open resource repository on racial disparities in American society that are important, vital, and measurable. The report measures disparities across 80 different indicators to offer a birdseye view on the racial disparities impacting Black communities
As we parsed the 2025 data, and related it to our own findings, several narratives began to emerge. Many of which, unsurprisingly, had been raised and addressed by the hundreds of community voices who contributed to our Black Wellbeing Report.
Here’s what we found:
1. Black communities are deeply civically engaged.
“We continue to grow wiser in this moment, having learned from our ancestors — living and passed. We’re moving more boldly toward creating the world we want to see: exercising individual and collective power, stepping into our joy, having time to be and rest so that we heal and dream, and listening, learning, and organizing intergenerationally.” ––– Black Wellbeing Report, Black Future Co-op Fund (2021)
Black people are deeply committed to our communities. Through church congregations, sororities, fraternities, and other social groups, Black people consistently show up for one another. In fact, according to Greater Public, Black households donate, on average, 25% more of their income to charity than White households.
This level of civic engagement and social love trickles into political engagement. According to The Dashboard, Black voters show up at a rate of 58.7% while white voters show up at 63.7%; this is a relative disparity of 8.52%.
We know this, we see this, and the data shows that Black people are self-determined and actively creating the world we want to see.
2. Black students are resilient.
“There is no one vision of education in which every detail is the same for every student. We want different approaches because we have a diversity of brilliance and creativity. In the end, we all envision rich, integrated educational spaces that teach students how to grow into themselves and shape a better society. Education that is interactive, hands on, and culturally relevant.” ––– Black Wellbeing Report, Black Future Co-op Fund (2021)
Black children are the future.
The narratives around our young people remain rooted in racist tropes and white supremacist logics , and the data does show that drastic changes must be made in our educational spaces to empower all students to thrive.
The Dashboard reveals that inequities in access to quality education are stark: Only 15.8% of Black 8th graders have taken algebra, compared to 26.8% of their white peers. This snowballs. By senior year, only 8% of Black 12th graders are considered math proficient compared to 32% of their white peers. An inequity of 300%.
And yet, our students continue to thrive, even in systems designed to leave them behind. Some of the most encouraging numbers represent the sheer grit and excellence of Black students. When it comes to actually gaining a high school degree, the data tells a different story. 89.4% of Black people surveyed had a high school degree, compared to 91.7% of white people. Black communities continue to prioritize higher education, and although inequities persist, they demonstrate this priority. 60.8% of Black students enroll in college compared to 64.01% of their white peers.
3. Black communities require resources, not over-policing.
“We want the freedom to be, to take up space, to be spontaneous. We want to feel relief, ease, peace, and joy. Our vision is one where we have land to care for and homes in which we can care for each other. We envision radical inclusion and validation, of laughter and joy, and of listening, trust, and curiosity. Despite the conditions of society, we have always managed to find moments and spaces of safety. To make those moments a constant reality, the conditions of society need to shift.” ––– Black Wellbeing Report, Black Future Co-op Fund (2021)
In June 2025, the National Urban League reported on the remarkable success of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott's community-based approach to public safety. Mayor Scott’s framework tackled public safety as a public health issue and prioritized community engagement and nonviolent intervention.
The result? The lowest homicide rate in 50 years.
We know that public safety is a practice of healing and trust building, but the current narratives around our communities do not acknowledge this reality. The data demonstrates what’s not working. According to The Dashboard, our communities are radically overpoliced, with 938 Black people incarcerated out of every 100,000 people, compared to 138 white people. A disparity of 80.5%.
The prison industrial complex does not promote public safety; it is a machine of violence. We have time and again seen that the most important and consistently successful intervention is investment in our communities.
4. Black healing is paramount.
“As we begin to manifest the societal conditions for well-being, health care as we know it today will drastically shift. We’ll be able to easily get the care we need, when we need it from people we know, love, and trust. Black researchers, scientists, care providers, and community members will work together across sectors to develop innovations built on the wisdom of our ancestors. The experience of health care will once again feel caring, loving, and supportive. “ ––– Black Wellbeing Report, Black Future Co-op Fund (2021)
Many of the figures surrounding healthcare in the Black community are indicative of the myriad ways the current system fails Black people.
As The Dashboard reveals, maternal mortality rates continue to expose wide disparities in access to quality care. Out of every 100,000 births, roughly 55 Black mothers lose their lives. This is compared to 19 deaths for white mothers — a disparity of 65.5%
One of the largest disparities is the lack of of Black physicians. We know that when Black people receive culturally relevant care, health outcomes improve. However, the data reveals that for every 100,000, only 109 physicians identify as Black, compared to 235 physicians identifying as white – a disparity of 115%
It is critical that Black medical providers are trained, supported, and adequately compensated because Black healing is essential.
5. Black prosperity is found in community.
“In the midst of our reality, we are still dreaming and remembering the joy of building with each other, the care of mutual aid. We remember that we are our most precious asset.
Every day, we are examining the dissonance and finding our way back to our own humanity. Our planning today is for generations to come because all of us, not just a few of us, are deserving of comfort and care. We recognize our abundance and move from the inner knowing that we have access to an abundant world.” ––– Black Wellbeing Report, Black Future Co-op Fund (2021)
We are our own most precious asset.
We know that our community is our prosperity. We also recognize the many ways that Black people have been denied resources, economic mobility, and generational wealth. The result is the single largest disparity measured by The Dashboard — median family wealth.
The average white family’s wealth is $188,200. The average Black family’s wealth is calculated at $24,100. A disparity of 680%
And yet, Black people continue to create pathways for themselves and their communities. According to The Brookings Institute, from 2020 to 2021, the number of Black-owned businesses grew by 14.3%. During that period, Black-owned businesses also had the highest percentage increase in employees (7%), revenue (30%), and payroll (27%) compared to white, Asian, Latine, and Native American employer businesses. When Black entrepreneurs are given the capital, network, and resources to thrive, the ripple effect is exponential and generational.
The data is clear: despite a system designed to exclude and oppress, Black people are self-determined, abundant, and brilliant. Across these metrics, we saw narratives of resilience and hope, even in the face of injustice.
