We all know about the Decennial Census, but what do we really know? Decennial Census and the American Community Survey (modern long form data that is part of the decennial) are mandated in the U.S. Constitution for purposes of reapportionment and redistricting. But that Census data also a staple of civic tech projects. It is used as common denominator, is used for benchmarking, and is key for determining trends. So…let’s learn more about it on May 6th at 6:00pm at the Microsoft Technology Center Chicago!



First, we will have Knight Lab’s Joe Germuska will discuss the CensusReporter.org (http://censusreporter.org/) project. Census Reporter was created to make it easy for journalists to write stories using US Census data. Census Reporter greatly simplifies finding and using data from the decennial census and the American Community Survey.



He will also give you a sneak peek at a project called CitySDK (being rolled out in the US in Chicago first!). CitySDK helps integrate city data and federal data, starting with US Census data.



But it isn’t all ponies and unicorns in Census World. This wonderful resource (census data) is threatened by upcoming budget cuts and amendments to degrade data quality and make it less accessible, or eliminate some key elements for many places We will hear from Joan Naymark from Minnesotans for the American Community Survey. She will talk about why Open Data needs census data, will and will define the risk and resolution.



And…there will be pizza. Lots of pizza.