About the Project
In Rhode Island , great strides have been made in addressing racial and ethnic minority disparities in health, education, economic development and safety. These four variables encapsulate the most important issues affecting minority populations in the state. Published reports from public and private institutions have been critical in tackling the needs of minority communities. However, information gathered has yet to be synthesized into one report that provides an overall picture of the social, political and economic status of racial and ethnic minorities in Rhode Island .
In March 2004 we embarked on a six month project to develop Rhode Island 's first inventory of reports, scholarly article annotations, and other relevant information in the last five years on disparities in health, education, economic development and safety. A final report of the data available on this website contains recommendations that synthesize the gaps in community programs and public initiatives as well as assess the quality of the present data. We hope that this database will be of particularly interest to community leaders, policy makers, advocates, and others working toward improving the lives of minority populations in the state.
This project demonstrates the value of data collection and synthesis as a way of informing public policy. It serves as a model for bridging the gaps between social scientific research, community programs and aspirations, and public policy.