By Tim Mastro

WILMINGTON — Delaware’s new online database that integrates local information on a broad range of social indicators from health statistics to education, income and wealth, safety and criminal justice and more has been produced by the Delaware Division of Public Health, United Way of Delaware and Delaware Racial Justice Collaborative.

The Equity Counts Data Center was created to provide organizations, leaders and communities with the data and resources they need as they address institutional and historical barriers that impact Delawareans’ well-being and opportunities to thrive based on race, gender, sexual orientation and other identities.

Previously, an organization that wanted to implement or drive social programs and policies needed to compile data from scores of state and federal datasets on a wide range of websites. The Equity Counts Data Center comprises information from a coalition of data-sharing partners in one inclusive, graphic-format website housed on the Division of Public Health’s My Healthy Community portal.

“This is a game-changer for Delawareans. Far too often, we want to create change, but we don’t have the baseline data to show why this work really matters. The Equity Counts Data Center will help anyone that wants to make change in Delaware find the comprehensive data they need in one centralized place,” said United Way President Michelle A. Taylor in a statement.

The data is presented at the state and ZIP-code level, with comparisons available by race, ethnicity, gender and age to promote data-driven decisions and guide policies, programs and practices.

“The Equity Counts Data Center is the resource for communities, schools, organizations and people who have been working for change in their communities and voicing the why but need data for ongoing support,” Sequoia Rent, Public Health equity administrator said in a statement.

“Now, in one convenient location, they can find the data to raise those voices and lift the change.”