The UVA Democracy Initiative Center for the Redress of Inequity Through Community-Engaged Scholarship (aka The Equity Center) was founded in 2019 to imagine how the University of Virginia could serve as not just an anchor institution, but also an authentic community resource and partner in the local redress of inequity. Specifically, the Equity Center seeks to change the way University scholars interact with members of the surrounding community, replacing an imbalanced, and sometimes even exploitive model with one built upon mutual respect, mutual benefit, and shared power in all knowledge making efforts.
MISSION:
The Equity Center will tangibly redress racial and economic inequity in university communities by advancing a transformative approach to the fundamental research mission, which will, in turn, reform institutional values, pedagogy, and operations
VISION:
The Equity Center envisions universities that serve local communities by bringing rich research resources to bear on the work of redressing poverty and racial inequality, and also equip students to lead in building a just society.
DEMOCRATIZING DATA
The Equity Center is working with a coalition of partners to build open source, interactive tools to cultivate shared understanding and equitable decision-making across the region.
Voices for Equity is a web portal honoring the 50 years of activism on which the Racial Equity Task Force is built with data visualizations and a timeline with source documents.
UVA RACIAL EQUITY TASK FORCE
During the summer of 2020, Dr. Wilson served with Dean Ian Soloman and VP for DEI Kevin McDonald on a University task force to outline a bold plan for UVA to seek racial equity in all its systems, built on 50 years worth of great ideas. The Board of Visitors endorsed the report and began implementing the first set of major changes to the built landscape in September.