Analytics supporting workforce development, financial inclusion, and community economic resilience. Turning economic data into actionable strategies for equitable growth. Examples: small business lending gap analysis, workforce pipeline dashboards, wealth disparity mapping, community investment trackers.
Howard 11th Hour Project Hub
Your Mission, Amplified by Data Science
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11th Hour Project - Howard University - Data Science Partnership
Through the 11th Hour Project partnership, your nonprofit gains a dedicated team of Howard University data scientists who build the tools, pipelines, and analysis your mission demands, at no cost to qualifying organizations. Partner with Howard University's next generation of data scientists under faculty mentorship and professional oversight from the UChicago Data Science Institute.
4
Research focus areas across society and industry
15+
Interdisciplinary faculty across Howard schools
$0
Cost to qualifying nonprofit partners
Why Partner With Howard
Most nonprofits have data. Few have the capacity to use it.
The 11th Hour Project and Howard University's Center for Applied Data Science and Analytics (CADSA) have partnered to change that. Through this program, your nonprofit receives a dedicated team of Howard data science students who work directly on your organization's real challenges, under faculty mentorship, with professional oversight from the UChicago Data Science Institute.
This is not a class project. The work gets deployed and used. Students are selected for academic excellence, technical skill, and genuine commitment to social impact.
What Your Organization Receives
A Practical Analytics Solution
A dashboard, automated workflow, predictive model, data pipeline, or analytical product designed to address a clearly defined organizational need. Your team can actually run it.
Faculty Mentorship
Projects are guided by Howard University faculty and UChicago DSI staff to ensure methodological rigor, professional standards, and meaningful learning experiences.
Mission-Aligned Student Team
Students with complementary technical and domain expertise collaborate directly with your organization throughout the engagement. Chosen for genuine commitment to social impact.
No-Cost Participation
Eligible organizations receive project support through grant-funded programming at no cost. Funded by the Schmidt Family Foundation for grantees.
Sustainable Deliverables
All deliverables include documentation and recommendations to support continued use after project completion. Engage new student cohorts each semester as your needs grow.
The Project Process
| Step | Action | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Submit Your Challenge | Describe your organization's data challenge in plain language. Proposals should be 3,000 to 5,000 words. |
| 2 | Scoping Call | Participate in a project scoping meeting to define objectives, available data, and expected outcomes. |
| 3 | Team Assignment | A student team is assembled based on your project's technical and subject-matter requirements. |
| 4 | Collaborative Build | Students collaborate with your organization through regular meetings while developing the solution. |
| 5 | Delivery and Handoff | Receive a completed analytical product, documentation, and recommendations for implementation. |
Focus Areas
Economic Empowerment
Minority Health and Health Disparities
Data-driven approaches to understanding and reducing inequities in health outcomes. From chronic disease burden and access to care to maternal health outcomes and environmental health risk. Examples: health access mapping, chronic disease outcome models, maternal mortality dashboards, clinical trial diversity analysis.
Social Justice
Applications of data science to housing, civic engagement, criminal justice, and equitable policy. Helping advocacy organizations make evidence-based cases for systemic change. Examples: incarceration pattern analysis, housing discrimination mapping, voting rights dashboards, public benefits access tools.
Environmental Justice
Geospatial and environmental health analyses supporting communities disproportionately affected by environmental burdens. Examples: pollution burden mapping, cumulative impact scoring, climate vulnerability assessments, community air quality monitors.
Who Should Apply
Partner Requirements
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or fiscally sponsored organization
- A concrete, articulable data challenge (not just "we need help with data")
- A designated staff point of contact who can commit time to the project
- Willingness to meet regularly with the student team throughout the engagement
- Access to the data your proposed project requires
- Mission aligned with 11th Hour Project focus areas (preferred)
Characteristics of Strong Projects
- A specific tool, model, or analysis that does not yet exist in your organization
- Data that is available but underutilized or difficult to process at scale
- Clear success criteria you can define before the project begins
- A team member who can guide students on domain knowledge and context
- Work in climate, food, human rights, marine, or civic tech domains
- Openness to open source or publicly shareable outputs
Questions?
Submit your nonprofit's data project brief and our team will follow up within 5 business days to discuss fit and next steps. There is no cost to qualifying 11th Hour Project grantees, just impact.
Email: datascience@howard.edu (Subject Line: 11th Hour Project)
Website: provost.howard.edu/CADSA