DAYTON, Ohio — Nearly 90 years ago, many communities began to experience redlining, a discriminatory way to prevent minorities or areas from having access to certain resources.

What You Need To Know

  • Sinclair Community College geography students recently created maps for the "Vestiges of Redlining: Mapping Equity in Dayton" exhibit

  • The exhibit showcased over 50 maps

  • The maps focused on topics such as police violence, voter turnout, environmental hazards and green spaces

  • The purpose of the exhibit is to explore why certain communities have more resources than others and spark conversations around it

Now, students at one Ohio community college are looking at some of those differences by creating their own city maps.

Katie Wosyk, a geography student at Sinclair Community College, has been creating maps about redlining and green spaces in Dayton for months. It’s through a partnership with the city.

“It was just kind of an eye-opener to see the world in a whole new light, and I really enjoyed looking at everything in a different way,” said Wosyk. 

Through her six-month research, she found trees and green spaces affect your overall health and lifestyle. Research shows trees improve property values, lowering temperatures and promote physical activity.

She said in areas with fewer trees, people are more likely to stay indoors and exercise less. But that wasn’t the case for those who live in affluent neighborhoods, which she said have more trees.

“It’s been shown that they are a bit physically active,” she said. “They’re out, and they’re walking in their neighborhoods. If there are parks, playgrounds for kids, they’re out in their parks and playgrounds.”

Wosyk is one of six geography students at Sinclair to create over 50 maps for the "Vestiges of Redlining: Mapping Equity in Dayton" exhibit. The purpose of the exhibit is to explore why certain communities have more resources than others and create conversations around it.

Those topics include voter turnout, police violence and environmental hazards. Not only have they worked with the city, but they've also worked with organizations like the League of Women Voters. Wosyk hopes her project will help educate others about their communities and the benefits green space can provide. 

“It’ll show them the areas that are lacking in a tree canopy,” she said. “It’ll really give a better visual to the knowledge of the trees in the city.”

Wosyk will graduate in the next couple of weeks, but she hopes to take what she’s learned from this project to create even more unique maps, one tree at a time. 

“Just continue that process of taking data that people have a hard time visualizing and make it something they can visually see,” she said.