Last week, Senior Director of our Social Safety Net portfolio Tracey Patterson joined a panel convened by data.org and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth for a discussion on how to harness the power of data science in the wake of COVID-19’s economic impact. Panelists were asked for their thoughts on how we can catalyze innovative and scalable solutions to people affected by the unemployment crisis, all the while building resilience to withstand future challenges.
Tracey shared insights from how we’ve used data as a guide to continuously improve our safety net services in order to ensure they are as inclusive as possible. She gave examples of ways that we have used data to advocate for much needed policy changes. And most importantly, she emphasized that we must not only look at data through a quantitative lens, but also a qualitative one that examines the full depth of someone’s experience. Because whether we’re working with data to serve hundreds of thousands of people through a large-scale crisis or one person through an individual crisis, it’s imperative that we never lose sight of the humanity behind the data points.
To hear more about how we and our friends in the field see the role of data in supporting an inclusive recovery, watch the discussion below: