At RHI, we believe that meaningful access to data is a matter of health equity. 

In many rural communities like ours, the first barrier to data access is that the data simply doesn’t exist. Too often, we find ourselves relying on national or state-level datasets that either exclude our communities entirely or smooth over the details of local experience. When local data isn’t collected, or isn’t collected with enough detail to show what’s happening across different groups, we can’t see the disparities that exist, let alone address them. If we don’t count people, we risk making them invisible in policy and practice. This is especially true for marginalized groups whose experiences are often left out of broad-scale surveys. Without robust, place-based data that reflects the reality of their lives, our systems are flying blind.