Life after EJScreen: The Future of EJ and Environmental Mapping
For more than a decade, EJScreen served as the most widely used federal mapping tool for environmental justice analysis. It influenced how environmental burdens were measured, how cumulative impacts were understood, and how agencies, advocates, and researchers approached informed decision-making. With the shutdown of EJScreen and other federal tools last year, important questions have emerged about the broader ecosystem of environmental and EJ data and tools.
This panel brings together former federal practitioners, state and local leaders, community-based organizations, academics, and data tool builders to examine what comes next. Panelists will reflect on what EJScreen enabled, where it fell short, and what structural gaps are becoming visible in its absence. The conversation will broaden to explore the full range of environmental and EJ data tools used today for research, community advocacy, planning, enforcement, and climate resilience.
This session will examine the evolving landscape of environmental and EJ mapping and data: decentralized innovation, academic partnerships, nonprofit-led platforms, and emerging governance models. It will also explore how new efforts, including initiatives like the Environmental Health and Data Analysis Trust, aim to create more flexible, interoperable, and community-informed environmental data infrastructure.