Keynote Speaker

Terry Ao Minnis, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC

Journalists increasingly use public data to help tell stories, investigate potential wrongdoing, and explain our changing world to a wide variety of readers. This panel of data journalists will explore how they use public data in their newsrooms. We will dive into strengths and weaknesses of public data from a journalist’s perspective, and we will discuss the trials and tribulations journalists face when trying to use and access public data.

• Meghan Hoyer, The Washington Post
• Emily Guskin, The Washington Post
• Hannah Fresques, ProPublica

Criminal and civil court data are technically public, but they can be difficult to access, process, and use for researchers, advocacy organizations, and the wider community. This panel of Urban Institute researchers will describe three projects that leverage court data from a variety of sources to shed light on the demographics of people facing eviction, explore limitations and biases in the ways tenant screen companies collect data for automated decision-making on rental applications, and examine how housing stability varies over time and household characteristics for those receiving HUD assistance.

• Katie Fallon, Urban Institute
• Judah Axelrod, Urban Institute
• Manuel Alcalá Kovalski, Urban Institute

Public data are immensely helpful for monitoring communities and tracking changes over time, but they can be difficult for the general public to find, collect, and analyze. Creating tools and dashboards provide the public with easier access and targeted insights into data. This session provides overviews of tools and dashboards related to census and American Community Survey data, spatial data equity, Earned Income Tax Credit participation, and the health and vitality of the arts in the United States.

• Important Updates and Changes to data.census.gov
  Maria Valdisera, U.S. Census Bureau
• Using IRS Zip Code Tax Filing Data to Expand Earned Income Tax Credit Participation (EITC)
  David Park, National League of Cities
• Mining Federal Data to Monitor the Arts Ecosystem
  Patricia Mullaney-Loss, National Endowment for the Arts
  Ashley Roberts, American Institutes for Research
  Thomas Snyder, American Institutes for Research
• Unlocking Public Data for Spatial Equity Analysis
  Alena Stern, Urban Institute
  Gabe Morrison, Urban Institute

• • Hazardous Homes: Childhood Lead Poisoning, Family Relocation, and Implications for Public Policy
    Frank Ridzi, LeMoyne College
    Colby Cyrus, Central New York Community Foundation
  • Storytelling in the Age of Big Data: Lessons from Citizen Science for Administrative Data Use
    Nick Hart, Data Foundation

A livable community is where people of all ages and backgrounds feel welcomed and have a sense of belonging. Community members should have access to housing that meets their needs and a range of transportation options that get them to their desired destinations. They should also be able to find a variety of amenities and services: healthy food, health care, places to socialize and interact with friends and neighbors, and places to enjoy the outdoors or exercise. With these features, people stay active and engaged in their communities at every life stage.

• • Suleyman Bahceci, AARP
  • Tanja Ibrahimpasic, Social Explorer
  • Andy Krackov, Hillcrest Advisory
  • Mark Mather, PRB

The public data landscape is constantly changing, with the introduction of new concepts, new methods for analyzing data, new applications for public data, and innovative ways of linking data from disparate sources to yield new insights. This session includes presentations that cover the rapidly changing landscape of public data.

• Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Data Accessibility and Availability: A Connecticut Case Study
  Shannon Carter, DataHaven
• Toward a 21st Century National Data Infrastructure: Managing Privacy and Confidentiality Risks with Blended Data
  Jennifer Park, NASEM
• Integrating National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Data to Tell The Story of American Education
  William Duncan, University of Kansas
• Who Is Missing Out On Welfare? Using Computational Methods To Evaluate Households That Are Eligible For Energy Assistance In Minnesota
  Bhavin Pradhan, University of Minnesota

• Voting Behavior in the 2019 Hartford Municipal Election
• Squeezed Out: Mapping Diverse Dimensions of Raleigh NC’s Housing Crisis
• Nine Charts about Wealth Inequality in America
• City of Bellevue Planning for Housing Guide
• Hartford Neighborhood Explorer

In today’s rapidly evolving economic landscape, understanding the dynamics of workforce training supply and labor demand across US regions is paramount. By exploring the intricate interplay between workforce training availability and the shifting demand for knowledge, skills, and abilities of an ever-evolving job market, this panel illuminates how public data available through the Workforce Almanac and National Labor Exchange Research Hub can help foster economic growth, enhance job market efficiency, and empower decision-makers to make informed resource allocation decisions.

• Nathalie Gazzaneo, Harvard University
• Paul Daniels, National Labor Exchange

Accessing civil court data has varied greatly by state, making it difficult to learn how court impacts people’s livelihoods, housing, and safety. This panel describes important advances in accessing and processing state civil court data on debt collection and evictions, and then how those data can be used to establish and improve strategic court and community partnerships.

• Sabiha Zainulbhai, New America
• Casey Chiappetta, The Pew Charitable Trusts

Data Storytelling Award & Closing Remarks

Amy O’Hara, Georgetown University
David Van Riper, University of Minnesota