Million Dollar Hoods

What Million Dollar Hoods does

Million Dollar Hoods is a university-based, community-driven research initiative founded in September 2016 at UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. It maps and documents the fiscal and human costs of mass incarceration in Los Angeles County — documenting $19.4 billion in LAPD bail levies between 2012–2016, 531,330 LAPD arrests and 469,216 LASD bookings between 2010–2015, and 16,466 collective years women spent in LA County Jail — through quantitative arrest/booking data analysis, qualitative oral histories, and a five-decade historical archive. Founded by Dr. Kelly Lytle Hernandez (2019 MacArthur Fellow) and led by Dr. David C. Turner III, the project is built on data obtained via California Public Records Act requests from LAPD (2010–2020) and LASD (2010–2019).

Core products include the Map Room (neighborhood-level cost-of-incarceration visualization), interactive Data Dashboards (filterable by race, gender, date range, and agency), Rapid Response Reports (1–2 page community-responsive briefs), White Papers, an Archives Division with oral histories, and open downloadable CSV datasets. The underlying technology is built on GIS mapping systems, Tableau-based dashboards, and Public Records Act data collection pipelines. The Big Data for Justice Summer Institute trains high school graduates in data analysis and visualization applied to criminal justice.

The business model is grant-funded and non-commercial. All outputs are free; no fees are charged for data, reports, or tools. Revenue derives from foundation grants (notably a $3.65M Mellon Foundation award in 2019/2021 to build the 'Age of Mass Incarceration' archive) and institutional support from UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center, the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, and the Center for Immigration Law and Policy. The customer/user base is comprised of community-based organizations (Critical Resistance-LA, CURB, Dignity and Power Now, Youth Justice Coalition), academic researchers, policymakers, and students engaged in decarceration advocacy and criminal justice reform.

Name

Million Dollar Hoods

Legal name

Million Dollar Hoods

Website

https://milliondollarhoods.pre.ss.ucla.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Million Dollar Hoods is a UCLA-based research initiative founded in 2016 that maps and documents the fiscal and human costs of mass incarceration in Los Angeles County. It serves community organizations, researchers, policymakers, and students through free interactive dashboards, GIS maps, open datasets, rapid-response reports, and oral histories.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Criminal Justice Research

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921), Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities (9221)

akta.pro primary industry

Records & Information Management (RIM) / Records Management (HDAEAGAC)

Keywords

• Mass incarceration research
• Criminal justice data analytics
• Community-driven research
• Incarceration cost mapping
• Arrest and booking datasets

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: Million Dollar Hoods is funded through grants including a $3.65 million Mellon Foundation grant to build the 'Age of Mass Incarceration' archive with LAPD records.
2. Institutional Support: Based at UCLA, the project receives institutional support through the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE).

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Million Dollar Hoods is a UCLA-based research initiative that maps and documents the fiscal and human costs of mass incarceration in Los Angeles County. It produces and freely distributes interactive maps, web-based data dashboards, downloadable datasets, rapid response reports, and historical/oral history archives, alongside running community-driven research collaborations and an annual data training institute.

Product overview

Million Dollar Hoods is a university-based, community-driven mixed-methods research project at UCLA that maps and documents the fiscal and human costs of mass incarceration in Los Angeles and beyond. The core product portfolio includes the Map Room (interactive neighborhood-level cost visualization), Rapid Response Reports (community-responsive 1-2 page research briefs), and Data Dashboards (web-based tools for creating custom reports on LASD/LAPD booking and arrest trends). Supporting offerings include an Archives Division (historical records and oral histories), collaborative initiatives like Decarcerate California and Mapping Deportations, the Big Data for Justice Summer Institute educational program, and publicly downloadable open datasets. The organization operates as a unified research initiative rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Map Room Interactive map interface that visualizes how much Los Angeles County spends to jail residents by neighborhood, displaying the fiscal costs of mass incarceration at the neighborhood level.
• Data Dashboards Interactive web-based tools allowing community members to create custom reports about booking and arrest trends in Los Angeles County, filtering by race, gender, date range, and law enforcement agency (LASD and LAPD).
• Rapid Response Reports 1-2 page research reports on specific topics produced in response to current community concerns regarding policing and incarceration, developed in collaboration with community-based partners.
• White Papers Broader research documents that describe data obtained from individual law enforcement agencies, presenting results of data analysis on a range of topics including bail, cannabis enforcement, homeless policing, youth policing, and racial disparities.
• Archives Division Initiative to liberate, curate, and make publicly accessible law enforcement's historical documents through the creation of physical and digital archives, including oral histories with system-impacted persons documenting five decades of mass incarceration.
• Open Datasets (LASD/LAPD) Publicly downloadable CSV datasets containing LASD booking data (2010-2019) and LAPD arrest data (2010-2020) with accompanying data dictionaries and charge code documentation.
• Big Data for Justice Summer Institute Four-week summer program designed to develop students' abilities to critique, analyze, visualize, and map big data using Tableau, GIS methods, and other digital technologies, with project-based learning and fieldwork focused on criminal justice issues in Los Angeles using LAPD arrest data.
• Decarcerate California Collaborative initiative with UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) that seeks to raise public awareness about decarceration and equip people to shape the transition from youth incarceration to community health.
• Mapping Deportations Collaboration with the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA School of Law that unmasks the history of racism in U.S. immigration enforcement through archival research and data analysis.

Quantifiable outcome

• 531,330 LAPD arrests documented and mapped (2010-2015)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American StudiescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMillion Dollar Hoods is based at UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. The center provides institutional support, office space, and houses the project's GIS specialist and core team members.
• Critical Resistance-Los AngelescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarly founding partner that attended research meetings and offered feedback on mapping strategies, data trends, website design, and project naming during the inception of MDH.
• Californians United for a Responsible BudgetcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarly founding partner providing input on research priorities, data analysis, and policy advocacy related to decarceration and prison budget reform.
• Dignity and Power NowcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarly founding partner contributing to community-driven research efforts and policy work around incarceration and racial justice.
• Youth Justice CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarly founding partner providing feedback on research priorities and contributing to youth-focused incarceration research.
• Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUCLA's IRLE co-sponsors the Decarcerate California collaborative, an initiative seeking to raise public awareness about decarceration and equip people to shape the transition from youth incarceration to community health.
• Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at UCLA School of LawcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration between MDH and CILP on Mapping Deportations project, which unmasks the history of racism in U.S. immigration enforcement through archival research and data analysis.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Vera Institute of Justice: National nonprofit that conducts data-driven research and pilots on incarceration and criminal justice reform; directly comparable as a research-to-policy organization focused on decarceration, though larger and operating nationally rather than neighborhood-level.
• The Marshall Project: Nonprofit newsroom covering the U.S. criminal justice system; comparable in producing high-quality data-driven narratives and analyses on incarceration that inform public policy and community understanding.
• The Sentencing Project: National research and advocacy organization producing reports, data, and policy analysis on sentencing, incarceration, and racial disparities; comparable role as a research intermediary translating criminal justice data for advocacy and policy use.
• Prison Policy Initiative: Data-focused research and advocacy organization producing analyses of mass incarceration, arrests, and jail populations; closely comparable mission of converting raw criminal justice data into accessible community-facing research outputs.
• Critical Resistance: Grassroots abolitionist organization working to end mass incarceration through research, organizing, and policy; comparable community-anchored mission and a named early partner of MDH.

Broad incumbents

• Advancement Project: National racial justice policy and legal action organization addressing policing and incarceration; comparable in combining litigation, policy, and data to advance decarceration at multiple government levels.
• Brennan Center for Justice: NYU-affiliated law and policy institute that conducts criminal justice research and reform advocacy; comparable academic-policy research model, though it covers a broader policy portfolio than MDH's incarceration-focused scope.
• RAND Corporation - Criminal Justice Research: Large research institution conducting policy studies on policing, corrections, and incarceration; comparable as a producer of methodologically rigorous criminal justice research, though operating as a general-purpose think tank rather than community-driven project.

Emerging players

• Mapping Police Violence: Community-data project aggregating and visualizing police use-of-force and related violence data; comparable niche mission of building public-access datasets and maps that link criminal-legal system data to community impact.
• Interrupting Criminalization: Research and organizing initiative studying criminalization of marginalized communities; comparable smaller-scale, research-meets-organizing model focused on criminal justice impact at the community level.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/milliondlrhoods
• Instagraminstagram.com/milliondollarhoods/?hl=en
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/challenge-inequality

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Million Dollar Hoods