Cheryl Knott is the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Project Manager for the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance-Jacob France Institute. For over a decade, Cheryl has worked to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and reliability of community indicators that describe the quality of life for Baltimore City communities. She coordinates with staff and external data-creating agencies to produce customized statistical and research reports and evaluations that examine neighborhood-level trends on socio-economic characteristics, crime and safety, public health, housing and community development, educational achievement, and sustainability.

Cheryl also provides training to the public on using GIS resources, community asset mapping, evidence-based practices, and communicating data for grant writing. Cheryl is involved in coordinating Baltimore Data Day, an annual event that brings together a diverse audience to talk about data and resources in the city. She is a proponent of data democratization and has a strong interest in making GIS data open and usable to the public as well as other professionals.

Prior to her arrival at BNIA-JFI in 2007, Cheryl studied at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), receiving her Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Environmental Systems and a certification in Cartography in 2007 and a Master’s degree in Applied Sociology in 2013. Her research interests include the relationship between crime and the built environment including developing new quantitative measures for studying urban crime risk at the block level.

In 2017 Cheryl was awarded the UB Staff Award for Extraordinary Public Service to the University and Greater Community for her work on communicating data and information. She is currently serving her second term as the Data and Resources Subcommittee Chair for the Maryland State Geographic Information Committee (MSGIC). In her spare time, Cheryl is a co-organizer for MaptimeBmore.