Resource Mapping shows us how where you live affects what resources are available to you - and gives us insights on how to bridge the resource gap. 

Resource-Equity Mapping is an analytical tool that deepens our understanding of equity within regions. The goal of the resource-equity map is to identify communities where resources are abundant as well as communities that lack resources, without making judgments or assumptions about the people who live in these communities.   

Our map is based on a variety of models that map different socioeconomic factors that influence a person’s educational, economic, and social (as well as other) opportunities in life. When we understand where resources are concentrated, we can better determine how to remedy socioeconomic inequality.   

Mapping can help guide community investments to bring resources to a lower-resource area and help people in historically disenfranchised groups gain access to areas that have a wealth of resources, such as high-performing schools and diverse jobs.  The designation of a community as lower-resource is often a reflection of the history of discriminatory policy and disinvestment in those communities, and not a judgment of that community as a whole, or any person or people in that community. 

An assessment of this kind was originally done by the Kirwan Institute in a 2009  report  commissioned by the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, and subsequently updated by Open Communities Alliance in 2015, 2020, and 2026.  In creating the 2026 map, updated datavisualizations, recommendations and calculations were provided by CT DataHaven.

Why the new name?

One reason it is important to adopt a new approach to measuring inequity is that the term “Opportunity Mapping” can leave some people with the impression that the term “opportunity” was referring to the promise of individual residents of an area rather than reflecting inequitable access to neighborhood amenities, characteristics, and resources that decades of social science research demonstrate are foundational to healthy and prosperous lives. These neighborhood characteristics include features like personal safety, high-performing schools, access to career networks, and more. The mapping should guide policy that ensures access to areas that already have such advantages and inform investments in places that do not, with the goal of ensuring every neighborhood is a place people, and especially children, can thrive.

Resource-Equity Mapping is grounded in the notion that where a household lives should, at its heart, be a choice -- and the “right” choice for any particular family could very well include other important considerations beyond the factors in a map. Some examples include prioritizing transportation needs, childcare networks, familial proximity, faith communities, and cultural connections.