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State Water Board coordinator unveils Equity Data Handbook and staff training options
Summary
Anna Holder, the State Water Board's open data science equity and tribal coordinator, summarized a new Equity Data Handbook to help staff apply racial equity across the data life cycle and highlighted training and participation opportunities including a customized OpenScapes 10-week cohort and a racial equity data subcommittee.
Anna Holder, the open data science equity and tribal coordinator for the State Water Board's Office of Information Management and Analysis, presented an overview of a new Equity Data Handbook designed to help water board staff integrate racial equity into data projects.
"The equity data handbook is a living resource with curated best practices and guidance that's meant to support water board staff with incorporating racial equity concepts, principles, and practices into their data related work," Holder said, noting the document has grown from an early guidance memo into a substantially larger reference.
Holder described the handbook's primary audience as staff who work with data in any form and emphasized it is intended for practitioners across the organization — not only data experts. She recommended a "choose your own adventure" approach: staff should consult chapters relevant to the phase of their work rather than read the entire handbook front to back.
The handbook covers the full data life cycle. Holder outlined chapter-level guidance including planning and preparation (equity assessments and data management plans); data collection (limits, common sources, and survey guidance); data processing and QA/QC guidance; and analysis (currently high-level, with more detailed examples under development with partners). She said the data visualization chapter focuses on design choices that advance accessibility and inclusion, and the communication chapter offers plain-language, audience-centered approaches for sharing results.
Holder said the handbook includes an evaluation page with tools such as root-cause analysis and results-based accountability, plus templates the office plans to make downloadable so staff can reuse and adapt materials rather than start from scratch. The use cases chapter currently includes few examples; Holder invited teams to submit case studies through the handbook's feedback form so the resource can expand with real projects.
Holder also outlined outreach and training opportunities tied to the handbook. She described OpenScapes — "an organization, an approach, and a movement that champions open data science" — and said the State Water Board has adapted a 10-week OpenScapes "champions" cohort for staff. Applications open May 1 and close June 30; two concurrent cohorts will run from late August through mid-October, with an expected time commitment of about one to four hours per week depending on participation level. Each cohort will accept up to 40 participants and up to four mentors; staff from any region, division, or job classification are eligible to apply.
In addition, Holder invited staff to join the Environmental Justice Roundtable's racial equity data subcommittee, a welcoming forum for practitioners to share work, request feedback, and build community. Meetings are roughly one hour every six weeks, attendance is flexible, and interested staff can complete an interest form linked in the slide deck.
Holder closed by stressing that operationalizing equity takes time, resources, and iteration. "There is no shortcut, no easy button, no quick checklist for operationalizing equity," she said, urging staff to review the handbook, discuss options with supervisors, and consider the training and community opportunities the office is offering. The handbook and slide deck are live online and will be updated as the office adds examples and templates.
