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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

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.

Literacy, by the numbers

How do we raise Black children's reading, state by state?

In New Jersey 1 in 4 Black fourth graders read at Proficient; nationwide it is 1 in 6. Where reading is rising, who decides, and what you can do.

I held a town hall for someone running for the Georgia State Senate, and I was standing among Georgia state legislators when the conversation turned to banned books and what the state was allowing schools to remove or restrict.

Inside: A question at a town hall · Where Black children are reading well · Where we stand · Who decides, and what we can do this week · Where you live

Read the story › October 30, 2026 · 4 minute read

Mind the Money: Black Mental Health

Who gets mental health care in Black communities, and who decides the money?

Black youth suicide rose 29.4% in five years as the national rate fell. Your state's numbers, where care is short, and who decides the money.

Start with what the record shows is holding. From 2018 to 2022, 8.0 of every 100,000 Black Americans died by suicide each year. For all Americans it was 14.0. In the ten states with the most Black residents, the Black rate ran from 5.1 in New York to 8.7 in California, and in every one of them it was lower than the rate for all residents.

Inside: Where we stand · Where the care is short · Where the money comes from · Who decides · What you can do · Where you live

Read the story › October 30, 2026 · 5 minute read

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

Coming to your state

Decisions reported by Black newspapers and local news in states SourceLine is building next, with each state’s own numbers.

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.