AISP Toolkit Feb25 2025 - Flipbook - Page 9
Who We Are
Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) is based at the University of Pennsylvania within the
School of Social Policy & Practice. We support the ethical use of individual-level administrative data
for social policy change and advocate for the expansion of resources and infrastructure that makes
this possible. We foster cross-sector collaborations, build the relationships and trust that enable and
sustain data sharing, and center racial equity in our approach to data sharing and integration. We are
the conveners of the Workgroups that guided development of this Toolkit.
Toolkit contributors are a diverse group of civic data enthusiasts, including community advocates,
staff of local and national nonpro昀椀t organizations, applied researchers, state and local government
administrators and analysts, foundation staff, and service providers. The 昀椀rst version of this Toolkit
was published in May 2020 after a two-year participatory process. As with most long-term projects,
we saw a need for revisions immediately following release. This updated version incorporates threads
of feedback from the hundreds of practitioners we have had the opportunity to learn alongside while
presenting and discussing this work. We began convening a new Workgroup in 2024, with many
contributors serving consistently from 2018 to 2025. Thank you to all who have engaged with us on
this journey!
WHO WE ARE
This Toolkit sits at the intersection of dynamic yet often disconnected 昀椀elds—building civic data
infrastructure to inform decision-making and the work for racial equity. Both 昀椀elds have had dramatic
shifts in the past 昀椀ve years, and the content of this Toolkit has also changed. We have listened to you
as you told us how you use this resource. We have modi昀椀ed parts that were less helpful, shortened
some sections, and expanded others. Most notably, we have incorporated essential topics that were
missing—guidance and Work in Action speci昀椀c to participatory governance, Tribal data sovereignty,
and data standards. We have also updated terms and language used to describe these ever-changing
topics. You may also notice that arti昀椀cial intelligence has been incorporated as a part of the data life
cycle. All changes have come from users of this Toolkit, and we are grateful for your help in moving the
昀椀eld forward.
Together, we have worked to co-create strategies and identify best practices for administrative data
integration and reuse by government agencies, nonpro昀椀t organizations, and data collaboratives
committed to centering racial equity and sharing power with community.7 Speci昀椀cally, our work seeks
to help agencies acknowledge and compensate for the harms and bias baked into public data, data
structures, and data practices, as well as the perceptions and narratives they fuel.
2024–2025 AISP CONTRIBUTORS
Amy Hawn Nelson
Sharon Zanti
Della Jenkins
Isabel Algrant
Jessie Rios Benitez
Emily Berkowitz
TC Burnett
Kristen Egoville
Deja Kemp
Blu Lewis
Kim Paull
7 Throughout this toolkit we use the term ‘we’ to promote inclusivity. All contributors and readers bring unique experiences to
this work, and while we do not purport to encompass all perspectives (because that is impossible), our intention is inclusion.
The “we” includes all of us working at this intersection of data use and equity.
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