By The Rev. Canon Claire Woodley
The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island

The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island has long been working towards addressing the many layers of racism on Long Island over decades and through several Episcopates.  The current Bishop of Long Island, the Rt. Rev. Lawrence Provenzano, has been seeking ways to increase dialogue and action, and to develop the tools to support it. 

Following a diocese-wide plea for congregations and individuals to engage the Sacred Ground series or the Healing from Systemic Racism program during Lent of 2021, Bishop Provenzano realized that the people of the diocese really needed drill down into the specifics of systemic racism here on Long Island, understanding that out of specificity comes creativity, and that if the Diocese could provide its people with easy access to the specific data for their setting, and that of those they love around the Diocese, understanding and creative common work can bloom. But the problem we ran into was that just giving people statistics didn’t cut it. We hear statistics all the time, in isolated bits and pieces that are difficult to put together, since those statistics often come without context or meaning.

It was at this point that we turned to FaithX and Datastory.

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