Using data to make organizations better places to work is an exciting new frontier in both data and social science. But data on its own is not automatically useful—and if not created, collected, generated, or evaluated with care, could even be harmful. In today’s episode, we will discuss the promise and perils of data-driven approaches to tracking and improving diversity, inclusivity, and the overall effectiveness of workplace anti-harassment programs.

Our guests on this episode are Dr. Andrea Jones-Rooy, Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Center for Data Science at New York University, Zoe Cooper Thomas, the Deputy General Counsel for DCHR, and Luisa Ngyuen, the Equal Employment Opportunity Program Manager for the District Department of Transportation.

Since we recorded this episode, Mayor Muriel Bowser appointed Dr. Amber Hewitt as the District's first Chief Equity Officer. You can read the press release (https://dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-appoints-dr-amber-hewitt-district%E2%80%99s-first-chief-equity-officer) for more about her appointment.

Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C1z4uEHzrz_l8nDZCtpCNvA9fsTfiZeL/view?usp=sharing

Music from filmmusic.io

"Loopster" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

On January 14, 2019, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, also called the Evidence Act, was signed into law by the President. This new law emphasizes collaboration and coordination among Federal agencies to advance data and evidence-building functions. It also mandates new federal evidence-building activities, open government data, and confidential information protection. The Evidence Act represents an important step forward in how Federal agencies approach evidence-based policymaking, something we here at The Lab @ DC work hard toward in the District every single day.

To help us better understand this law and what DC could learn from the federal government’s new approach to evidence-building, in August 2019, we talked to Dr. Diana Epstein, the Evidence Team Lead at the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, where Diana and her colleagues are working hard to start implementing the Evidence Act. We’re also joined by Jenny Reed, the Director of the DC Office of Budget and Performance Management, to talk about what DC is doing to promote evidence-based policymaking and where we may want to learn from the Evidence Act.

We want to know what you think about The Podcast @ DC! Take our quick listener survey here: tinyurl.com/thepodcastatdc.

Music from filmmusic.io

"Loopster" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Universal basic income (UBI), also referred to as a guaranteed minimum income, income guarantee, or unconditional cash transfer, involves regularly giving cash without conditions directly to everyone within a geographic or political territory on a long-term basis. The idea has become a widely discussed measure in policy circles around the world.

Ioana Marinescu covers the evidence relevant to UBI's potential impact in the United States. Many studies did not find or found a very small effect on the likelihood that recipients stop working, work less, or earn less. The evidence does show that a UBI can improve health and educational outcomes and decrease criminality and drug & alcohol use, especially among the most disadvantaged youths.

We want to know what you think about The Podcast @ DC! Take our quick listener survey here: tinyurl.com/thepodcastatdc.

Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X5c6GmfGz-4nYAJUbtwV5SBeFy8Ezd_g/view?usp=sharing

Music from filmmusic.io

"Loopster" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

The 2020 Census is here. With growth in computing power, advances in mathematics, and easy access to large, public databases, how is the U.S. Census Bureau ensuring respondent privacy and confidentiality at every stage of the data lifecycle? Dr. John Abowd, Associate Director for Research and Methodology and Chief Scientist at the Census Bureau, joins us to talk about differential privacy and the new confidentiality protection system that will provide the foundation for safeguarding all the data of the 2020 Census.

We want to know what you think about The Podcast @ DC! Take our quick listener survey here: tinyurl.com/thepodcastatdc.

Music from filmmusic.io

"Loopster" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

As The Lab and the rest of the DC government respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency, we’re releasing a series of past podcasts from our archives.

In this episode, former Lab Director, David Yokum, speaks with Benoy Jacob, Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy and Leadership at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to explore the relationship between trust and civic engagement and what it means for the governance of the country.

Policymakers often hope that transit stations will spur real estate and economic development in surrounding neighborhoods, but the results of empirical research on transit-oriented development (TOD) is mixed.

In Los Angeles, which has built a substantial intra-city rail network since 1990, most new stations were added to an already dense built environment, with auto-oriented zoning and established land use patterns. Through case studies of five LA Metro stations, Jenny Schuetz from the Brookings Institution assesses the relative importance of land markets, zoning, and other policy interventions in facilitating or constraining changes in development patterns after the stations opened.

We want to know what you think about The Podcast @ DC! Take our quick listener survey here: tinyurl.com/thepodcastatdc.

Transcript: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YLJSjZFgIGNeOLyLoqcaKc7yN_HNfTcb/view?usp=sharing

Music from filmmusic.io

"Loopster" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Childhood is a very important time in a human’s personal and cognitive development. Unfortunately, early exposure to all sorts of traumatic events, including family violence, shootings, and community-wide disasters, is all too common for children. If the trauma goes undiagnosed and untreated, negative mental health conditions such as PTSD, anxiety, and depression can follow.

On this episode of the Podcast, host Sam Quinney will be speaking with Dr. Lisa Jaycox, who founded a childhood trauma program called Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools, or CBITS. She is a Senior Social Scientist at the RAND Corporation, where her work has focused on stress, trauma, and evaluation of community interventions. Joining them for this conversation is Michelle Garcia, Director of DC’s Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants, which serves crime victims and improves the administration of justice for victims and offenders.

We want to know what you think about The Podcast @ DC! Take our quick listener survey here: tinyurl.com/thepodcastatdc.

Music from filmmusic.io

"Loopster" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Every year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, requires jurisdictions to conduct a census and survey of persons experiencing homelessness. These surveys, called Point-in-Time counts, provide a snapshot of the demographic characteristics and population of adults and children experiencing homelessness on a given day each year. In January 2019, DC implemented a supplemental, more qualitative survey with its PIT Count — the PIT Plus — to understand what led to individuals’ experiences of homelessness and what could have prevented those experiences.

On this episode of the Podcast @ DC, host Sam Quinney will be speaking with Tom Fredericksen and Elisabeth Young from The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, or TCP. TCP has conducted traditional PIT counts in the District since 2001, and spearheaded the effort to conduct the PIT Plus. You'll also hear from Hersh Gupta, a Data Scientist at the DC Department of Human Services and a Lab Fellow, who collaborated with TCP to analyze the results from this new survey.

We want to know what you think about The Podcast @ DC! Take our quick listener survey here: tinyurl.com/thepodcastatdc.

Music from filmmusic.io

"Loopster" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

What's the most important factor in a successful school? When we're renovating or building a new school, what do we care about the most? Most educators and parents will tell you it's student achievement.

In 2018, DC Public Schools commissioned Perkins Eastman Research to study the effects of school modernization on student achievement. In this episode, Sam Quinney will talk with Heather Jauregui, Emily Chmielewski, and Sean O'Donnell from Perkins Eastman, who spearheaded the study, along with the Chief Operating Officer of DCPS Patrick Davis. They discuss what they learned about the potential impacts of school modernization on student performance.

We want to know what you think about The Podcast @ DC! Take our quick listener survey here: tinyurl.com/thepodcastatdc.

Music from filmmusic.io

"Loopster" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Exposure to cold is one reason that mortality in the United States peaks in winter, and a higher heating price increases exposure to cold by reducing heating use. It also raises energy bills, which could decrease spending on food, medicine, and other expenses that could improve health.

On this episode of the Podcast, host Sam Quinney will speak with Seema Jayachandran, a Professor of Economics at Northwestern University, who led a study that looked at the effect of heating prices on winter mortality. Joining the conversation are Jennifer Kulp and Dawit Affa, energy efficiency experts from the DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE).

We want to know what you think about The Podcast @ DC! Take our quick listener survey here: tinyurl.com/thepodcastatdc.

Music from filmmusic.io

"Loopster" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)