Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities are united by the centuries-old traditional practice of wayfinding — navigating the Pacific Ocean using ancestral knowledge and their observations of celestial bodies, environmental conditions, and marine life to guide them on their voyages. 

Today, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities continue to navigate challenges, including health, economic, and social disparities that have been “hidden” due to a lack of disaggregated data. 

The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) Data Policy Lab at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has worked alongside NHPI communities to address these gaps within data and research and to ensure that communities are visible in the data, and that they have the access and training to use it. 

On Thursday, May 28, the NHPI Data Policy Lab will unveil a new and improved NHPI Social Determinants of Health dashboard, which features county-level data on health and factors that influence health. 

Built with NHPI communities, for NHPI communities, this dashboard brings together improved design, layout, functionality, and content to make critical data easier to find, understand, and use. The dashboard has been updated to include NHPI data for all 58 California counties, so users can better understand the unique needs of their local communities. 

Using data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), American Community Survey, and U.S. Census, the dashboard covers seven key topic areas: demographics, disability, economic indicators, education, health, housing, and veteran status. Select topics are available by NHPI subgroup, including CHamorros, Fijians, Native Hawaiians, Samoans, and Tongans. 

This webinar will also feature speakers from two NHPI community organizations, the Southern California Pacific Islander Community Response Team (SoCal PICRT) and Taulama for Tongans, who will share how accessible, culturally grounded data strengthens their advocacy, planning, and storytelling — and how they’ve used the Lab’s tools to support the communities they serve. 

At its core, this work reflects a commitment to ensuring NHPI voices guide every step of the process: from how data is collected and presented to how it is used to build healthier futures.