Projects
Data is our thing. Researching, gathering, visualizing, and analyzing it is what we do.
We develop Mapping Black California’s flagship projects, produce research and data journalism for our parent organization, Black Voice News, and partner with consultants on external work ranging from civic media campaigns to philanthropic analysis and beyond.
Explore our data-driven maps, dashboards, and stories — see the full body of work below.
Valley Voices Rising
Prepared for the James B. McClatchy Foundation, Valley Voices Rising maps the Central Valley's media landscape alongside county-level civic engagement and community vitality data, helping funders and stakeholders identify where regional journalism investment can strengthen community voice and representation.
The Blackest City
Moreno Valley is a vital yet overlooked chapter in the story of Black migration to the Inland Empire, and through oral histories from past and present residents, The Blackest City maps lives built through family, faith, work, and community, affirming a shared vision for a thriving, inclusive future.
The Black Equity Fund
This map and StoryMap combines data visualization and narrative storytelling to humanize the impact of the Black Equity Fund in the Inland Empire, showing where the region's Black community is excelling and where systemic need still exists.
TalentED & Santiago Canyon College Job Density
This tool helps Santiago Canyon College students transition from the school's prestigious real estate program into the workforce by mapping the areas with the highest concentration of job opportunities.
SoCalGas
Our foundational project: MBC developed a map visualizing Southern California Gas Company's giving patterns to Black-Led Organizations within their operating territory from 2019 to 2020, and paired that data with an in-house regional needs index to help SoCalGas make more impactful philanthropic decisions.
Segregation by the Sea
Despite civil rights laws, informal discrimination and economic barriers restricted Black beachgoers' access, as seen in cases like the Pacific Beach Club and Bruce's Beach. Recent efforts, however, have led to the return of Bruce's Beach to its rightful owners.
San Bernardino City Food Access
This map reveals how access to grocery, convenience, and liquor stores is unequally stratified by income throughout San Bernardino City, shaped by broader factors like poverty, racist infrastructure, unaffordable housing, and limited transportation access.
Riverside County Vaccine Impacts
An easy-to-use dashboard built for media outlets during COVID-19, identifying vaccination rates in densely populated Black and Latino areas of Riverside County to help target under-reached communities with critical vaccination information.
Racism as a Public Health Crisis
The Racism as a Public Health Crisis Dashboard tracked county and city declarations across California municipalities, serving as the precursor to the Combating Racism as a Public Health Crisis platform before being discontinued.
Orange County Jobs First
Maps on disinvested communities, equity and inclusiveness, COVID recovery, and sustainability and environmental justice grounded the region's planning process in data, helping ensure equitable decision-making.
MBC Census Lab
MBC's inaugural project: as the official California liaison between the Census Bureau and Black communities statewide, MBC led a collaborative effort with Black media outlets to drive reporting, outreach, and community engagement in support of a complete count for the 2020 Census.
Mapping Hate in California
This dashboard visualizes California's annual hate crime data from the Attorney General's office, tracking prosecutions and convictions statewide — including cases like the racist graffiti incident at Hamilton Elementary School in Anza, Riverside County.
