- Commerce Department announces plans for its data strategy for the fiscal years between 2021 and 2024
- Effort will enhance existing data tools and initiatives while also introducing new ones
- Data strategy aims to address economic equity issues
Summary by Dirk Langeveld
The Commerce Department is preparing to expand available tools and initiatives to support a data-riven approach to addressing equity issues related to job growth, distribution of resources, and other measures of economic well-being.
The department’s data strategy for the fiscal years between 2021 and 2024 relies on data related to the nation’s economy, population, and environment. It will enhance some existing programs and establish others.
“With women, particularly women of color, earning pennies on the dollar in wages compared to white men, and the number of working minority business owners suffering due to this pandemic, Commerce data is needed now more than ever to enhance equitable economic growth and help our communities build back better,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo.
- The strategy plans to enhance the publicly accessible Commerce Data Hub, which assists federal agencies and other entities in equitably distributing resources and identifying underserved communities while also providing insights on nation’s economy and population
- The Opportunity Project, to help “companies, non-profits, and universities utilize federal data to develop new technologies and innovative solutions which advance equitable economic growth,” will also be upgraded
- The Commerce Department also plans to host data summits to improve the accessibility and usability of federal data in underserved communities, and will introduce a toolkit aimed at correcting and mitigating biases in collection of federal data
