DataCenter provides strategic information to social justice community groups who face a research barrier hurdle in their struggle for justice that we term “research oppression.” Research Oppression is the systemic violation of the right of all grassroots experts to inherent political legitimacy on par with those of the mainstream institutions. The five components of research oppression are:

The community

• Faces systemic assaults–privatization &commodification, criminalization, militarization, and exploitation;
• lacks access to strategic data about themselves in mainstream sources;
• mis-/under-represented in mainstream data sources;
• lacks community control over the production, documentation, ownership and use of their own data;
• lacks of mainstream political legitimacy.

DataCenter’s program work counters research oppression by promoting Research Justice as an alternative agenda, that is taking back the right of grassroots people as genuine experts and key partners in making decisions that affects their lives.

Our Program Strategy consists of three prongs:

Research Support
We specialize in research that supports informed action – locating the information that organizers and activists need to develop effective campaign strategies, mobilize support, educate the public, influence policy makers and effectively confront power.

Capacity Building
We also provide research training and consultation designed to enhance the skills of organizers and activists. We also have internship opportunities for youth to build their research and non-profit experience.

Research Justice Advocacy
We seek to legitimize community knowledge and voices by creating allies amongst our peers in the broader field of research & academia.

We work with a wide range of social justice organizations. The following program areas are where we have particular expertise:

Economic Justice Project low-wage work, welfare “reform,” living wage issues

Environmental Justice Project resource extraction (mining, oil drilling), resource processing (refineries, toxics), and resource disposal (waste).

Youth Strategy Project youth organizing, education and criminal justice issues

Criminal Justice Project prison moratorium, privatization, immigrant detention, police brutality, transformative justice.

Indigenous Knowledge Project cultural survival, sacred sites, land rights, sovereignity, resource extraction, toxic pollution

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