DATA
A Data Justice Initiative

Make Data
Work for People

Practical ways to ensure social service data
meaningfully drives outcomes and insights.

Read the Charters

The data collected from people in crisis rarely benefits them.
It flows upward into reports that justify grants
not into systems that improve lives.

Choose Your Charter
I
Charter I · For Social Workers & Clients

People-First
Intake
Charter

Why we make social workers ask the wrong questions — and how a data justice approach makes everything better for frontline workers and the people they serve.

For: Social workers · Agencies · Clients · Advocates
Read the Charter
II
Charter II · For Funders

Funding
in the
Dark

How evaluation lost its way — and what comes next. A funder's companion that names the structural choices keeping the sector flying blind, with a roadmap forward.

For: Foundations · Government funders · Grant-makers
Read the Charter

One broken system,
two vantage points.

The data crisis in social services looks different depending on where you sit. Both charters are necessary — and they're designed to be read together.

01
The extraction problem People retell painful stories at every door. Data collected from them rarely comes back as help.
02
The reporting problem Funders receive polished reports that justify spending — not evidence that guides better investment.
03
The design problem Data is organized around programs, not people. The architecture ensures fragmentation.

Share your feedback.
Help improve data for communities.

This work is shaped by the people living inside these systems. Your experience — as a funder, worker, or client — matters.

Sign the People-First Data Charter