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Data Equity

NNAAC leads this collaborative to ensure federal, state, and local governments can develop a comprehensive understanding of the unique needs and concerns of Arab and other Middle Eastern and North African communities.

MENA communities are not recognized in federal data, which effectively excludes Arab Americans from the design, implementation, and evaluation of government policies and programs, infringing on their civil rights. MENA exclusion from data impacts all of our issues areas. NNAAC works to require federal, state, and local agencies to collect, report, and utilize detailed data on the race and ethnic self-identification of “Middle Eastern or North African” individuals. MENA and Arab-American recognition in federal data collection is crucial to enforcing the civil rights protections of MENA communities.  

Right now, NNAAC is advocating for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to require all federal agencies to collect detailed data on race and ethnicity through single question that includes a “Middle Eastern or North African” response option. We have created an action center, collecting individual comments from the population, and circulated sign-on letters for organizations, state and local officials, and researchers and research institutions. 

SUBMIT A PUBLIC COMMENT TO THE OMB HERE.
For information, contact Adam Beddawi at [email protected].

Our Policy Recommendation

Federal, State, and Local 

  • At the Federal level, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) within the Executive Office of the President (EOP) can revise Statistical Policy Directive Number 15 to require all federal agencies collect, report, and utilize detailed data on race and ethnicity through a combined question that includes a “Middle Eastern or North African” response option. 
  • At a local level, city councils can pass resolutions in support of OMB’s revision of Directive 15 to collect, report, and utilize detailed data on race and ethnicity through a combined question that includes a “Middle Eastern or North African” response option. 
  • At all levels of government, public and private sector partners can work together to revise their information collection forms to include a MENA response option on combined questions for racial and ethnic self-identification. 

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NNAAC, a national institution of ACCESS, is a national consortium of independent Arab American community organizations in the U.S. – and the only network of its kind.

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