New America’s Mapping Financial Opportunity Project Wins Data Visualization Award

The Association of Public Data Users has announced that New America’s Mapping Financial Opportunity (#MapFinOpp) project has received a 2017 APDU Data Viz Award for exceptional analysis and visualization of public data. 

The award was presented to Dr. Terri Friedline—assistant professor of social welfare at the University of Kansas; faculty director at the Center on Assets, Education, and Inclusion; and a program fellow in New America’s Family-Centered Social Policy program—in a ceremony at the Association of Public Data Users' national conference in Arlington, Virginia on September 14, 2017. 

The award also recognizes the contributions of project collaborators Justin King and Kirk Jackson from New America, Mathieu Despard from the University of Michigan, and Xan Wedel from the Institute for Policy & Social Research. 

Mapping Financial Opportunity maps every bank, credit union, and alternative financial service provider across the United States and examines trends in their locations relative to community racial and socioeconomic demographics. You can view the interactive map of where financial services are located and the ratio of alternative to mainstream financial services. By zooming in to the census tract level, you can also discover whether and how alternative financial services like payday lenders and check cashers concentrate in communities of color and lower-income communities. 

Mapping Financial Opportunity was financially supported by a grant from MetLife Foundation to the University of Kansas.