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SourceLineThe Black Civic Data Platform

Our mission is to make sure Black communities are not simply informed about the decisions shaping our future, but equipped to help make those decisions. An informed community is a powerful community.

Stories

Stories from October 2026

Each story starts with the national record, then breaks it down to your state, county, city and address: how it affects you, who decides and who pays. Newest first.

Showing 10 of 17 stories. See every story

Federal money, county by county

Do majority Black counties get more federal money, and what does it build?

In 2024 the typical majority Black county received $17,284 in benefits per resident. Most of the extra is help tied to need, not money that builds.

I went into this question expecting to find our counties shortchanged. That is the story many of us have been told, and in some parts of the federal budget it is true. But when I looked at the money that actually reaches the people who live in a county, the first thing the record showed was something else.

Inside: The lifelines are reaching us · What the extra money actually is · Where are the dollars that build? · What changed for food aid · Who decides, and what we can do · Where you live

Read the story › October 29, 2026 · 8 minute read

Business, by the numbers

What would it take for more Black-owned businesses to grow and hire?

Black Americans own 1 in 7 one person businesses but about 1 in 30 that hire. What it takes to grow them, and who writes the rules that decide it.

I was at a DeKalb County town hall in Stonecrest held by our county CEO, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, when residents began asking a question I have heard for years: why are the big box stores not coming to Stonecrest?

Inside: We are already in business · The gap is in growing · Why the step up is so steep · Some states already changed the rules · What you can do, wherever you live · Where you live

Read the story › October 29, 2026 · 7 minute read

Data centers, on the record

Data centers beyond DeKalb: the federal, state and local record

What Washington, the states and local boards are deciding about data centers near Black communities, who approves them, and the terms some communities won.

DeKalb County's Board of Commissioners paused new data centers in unincorporated DeKalb in 2025. On June 23, 2026 it turned down a proposed set of rules 7 to 0, and on July 7 it extended the pause to March 30, 2027 on a 6 to 1 vote.

Inside: Washington: faster permits · The states: power bills and sales tax · Memphis and Southaven · Alabama: a confidentiality agreement and a tax break · Prince George's County: a two year pause · Indianapolis: a tax break on the table · St. Louis: terms in the permit · Metro Atlanta · Who actually decides · Where communities won terms · What this means for DeKalb · Where you live

Read the story › October 29, 2026 · 11 minute read

Food aid, on the record

Who lost SNAP, and what happened next?

SNAP fell by 5.5 million people in a year. What Black families stand to lose, what is no longer counted, and who decides, down to your address.

SNAP has done what it was built to do. When a paycheck runs short, the groceries still come home. In July 2025, 41,603,048 people got SNAP. In July 2026, the latest month the U.S. Department of Agriculture has published, 36,087,667 did.

Inside: What the law changed · What the government says, and what critics say · Where the losses fell · What is measured now, and what is not · Who decides, from your street to Washington · What you can do · Where you live

Read the story › October 29, 2026 · 8 minute read

Housing, on the record

When public housing becomes Section 8, who gets to come home?

Public housing is being rebuilt as Section 8 under a federal program called RAD. What it fixed, what it risks, and who decides where you live.

Start with what is working. In HUD's own evaluation, the repair bill at converted properties fell by about two thirds, from $12,981 a home to $4,608, while it more than doubled at public housing that did not convert.

Inside: What the law is, and what Congress meant it to do · Why this is different from what happened in Atlanta · What the record shows, and where it stops · Pros and cons, side by side · What supporters point to · What critics point to · A view, labelled · Rural America is losing homes too · Who decides, from your street to Washington · What you can do · Where you live

Read the story › October 29, 2026 · 7 minute read

About these figures

Every figure on this page shows the year it describes. Public agencies release their numbers on their own schedules, often a year or more after the work of counting is done. The Census Bureau, for example, publishes its five year community survey each December, and the national reading test is given every two years. That is why some figures are not from this year. SourceLine updates each one as soon as the agency publishes it.

For some counties and small towns, SourceLine has not found meeting records online. Where it has not, we add them as they become available. A page that says SourceLine hasn’t updated a record yet means exactly that.