For many of us, summer vacation is synonymous with summer camp or afternoons spent poolside. However, the summer months should also be a time for children to build upon the academic skills they have gained during the school year.

As a membership organization of foundations and corporate giving programs, the Maryland Philanthropy Network has had a longstanding interest in increasing the funding community's capacity to support and use data to inform decision making.

In spite of gains over the recent decades, inequities in income, employment, educational attainment, housing and business ownership rates persist between African-American and white communities at both the national and local levels.