The project is notable for the extent to which it was embedded within larger regional and national conversations surrounding race and the public sector’s role in perpetuating inequality. Specifically, establishing a process for benchmarking racial equity in St. Louis helped catalyze implementation of a key recommendation of the Ferguson Commission report.

While city leadership was essential, the project benefited from being developed within a cohort model, with learning that occurred among peer cities in real time and took lessons from an initial pilot in New York City. The five Equality Indicator cities worked closely with the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance to build frameworks tailored to the priorities of each city. Cities were selected through a competitive application process open to the 100 Resilient Cities network, and 100 Resilient Cities staff contributed to the design of the tool.

The methodology used by St. Louis and the other participating cities is unique in that it measured inequality in an academically rigorous approach at the city level, rather than at the national level. 

The project intentionally sought to connect capacity from discrete sources. Because vacancy data is notoriously difficult to use, the project relied on the established methodology and capacity of the St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative to assemble and clean vacancy data rather than use its own raw data.

Critics were invited into the process early on to identify weaknesses and to strengthen analysis. Earning their eventual support burnished the project’s credibility by the time of publication.

The tool development process fostered conversations with city departments about how to conduct systems-level equity analyses. The process also created opportunities to develop solutions to disparate outcomes.