Building Equitable Communities and Economies
Are you ready to build an economy that works for everyone?
The best predictors of an individual's quality of life, health, education, and employment opportunities are often their race and income level. Understanding and addressing the complexities of community-system interactions is critical to equitable development. We specialize in assisting non profit organizations, philanthropy, and planners craft strategies that tackle disparities. Our approach combines data-informed planning and robust community engagement, ensuring that the voices of those most impacted are integral to the decision-making process.
Related Services
Equitable Development Planning
Community Health and Family Supports Assessments
Housing Analysis
Economic Vision and Action Plans
Featured Projects
Economic Analysis
Fourth Economy supported LISC Jacksonville in its mission to stabilize homeownership and family wealth building in majority Black neighborhoods in Jacksonville, Florida. Specifically, Fourth Economy examined property records to identify areas with high concentrations of households at-risk of speculative cash buyers, tax auction sales, and heirs’ properties – homes without formal estate planning – to help LISC Jacksonville prioritize outreach efforts and strategies that preserve homeownership and family wealth creation among these households. Fourth Economy was able to leverage our analysis capabilities (parcel records analysis, GIS mapping, data visualization) combined with strategy and recommendations work (identifying clusters of at-risk properties, helping the client prioritize outreach efforts) to preserve homeownership and family wealth creation among these households. Read More
Equity Toolkit
North American Bikeshare and Scootershare Association (NABSA) is a nonprofit organization committed to providing resources, education, and advocacy for the shared micromobility industry. By fostering collaboration among public, private, and nonprofit sectors within the industry, NABSA facilitates spaces for growth and aims to promote a more equitable and sustainable transportation ecosystem. NABSA created a Workforce Diversity Toolkit for the Bikeshare and Shared Micromobility Industry in 2019. This revision reflects the shared micromobility industry's dynamic evolution and increased diversity since the last toolkit was released. Fourth Economy paired desktop research with targeted engagement and interviews to identify best practices and case study examples highlighting workplaces that promoted diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within the shared micromobility industry. Read More
Inclusive Economic Strategy
As the electric utility provider for most of Allegheny and Beaver Counties, Duquesne Light Company (DLC) envisions a clean energy future for all. As part of this vision, DLC is working to empower all its customers to experience the benefits of electric mobility. As part of DLC’s efforts to evaluate its approach to administering electric mobility efforts equitably among its customers, including people of color and those within traditionally underserved, low-income, geographically diverse, and otherwise vulnerable population areas, the company partnered with Fourth Economy Consulting to help evaluate and guide its current and future work in this area. Based on learnings from the community dialogue, promising practices, case studies, and desktop research, the report offers recommendations on next steps for DLC per community, as well as topic-specific strategic actions DLC may take to advance e-mobility adoption, awareness, and advocacy throughout the DLC service territory. Read More
Inclusive Economic Development Strategy
The City of Gresham is a city of ~100,000 residents outside of Portland, Oregon. The City has established a strategic plan which includes a pillar of poverty reduction and prevention which is the focus of this project. Fourth Economy was engaged to help them focus their resources in a way that is aligned with needs and existing assets to improve the lives of low-income Gresham residents. The deliverable is a report that includes data about the City of Gresham specific to quality of life and economic mobility metrics, both compared to the region and also by neighborhood (census tract) within Gresham. This report was intended to be phase 1 of a multi-phase project, and was intended to lay the groundwork for a phase of genuine, intensive community engagement around the priorities identified. However, funding for phases beyond this one is no longer available, and so the client is unsure how the deliverable will support implementation. Read More
Get in Touch
Many of our most interesting projects stem from conversations with communities about where they are and where they want to be. Our specialty is in developing strategies that help communities achieve their goals. If you’d like to delve deeper, reach out! We'd love to connect with you.