With Census Day starting on April 1, many individuals and organizations have been working tirelessly to spread the message that everyone’s count matters. And for good reason: Census numbers determine how billions of dollars in federal and state funds are distributed, and when a community is undercounted it gets less than its fair share of the pie. But we can’t rely solely on messaging to get people to buy into the importance of the Census. What does Census data actually mean to the average person and how can it be used to effect change? We partnered with Census 2020, Seattle Public Library, King County Library System, and Lake Washington Institute of Technology to hold free data skills workshops that explored the answers to these questions. 328 people registered and 118 people attended the workshops, which took place in late January and early February.

“More than population count, the Census is about money, power, and justice. Being able to interpret Census data and question findings is a form of civic engagement,” said Siyu Lu, a partnership specialist for Census 2020 and data workshop teacher. “As human beings, we all are storytellers, and data enriches our stories. Understanding data empowers us to reflect and frame better stories.” 

Jay Lyman, workshop facilitator and business librarian who often works one-on-one with entrepreneurs at the Seattle Public Library, understands that there are few forms of communication more persuasive than a data-driven story.

“That’s how non-profits get funding for their business: by telling a story,” he said. “That’s why it’s important to empower people to really dig into the data and be able to interpret it.”

There are many steps one must take between gathering data and using it to tell compelling stories—simply having the numbers in front of you is just the beginning. Like general literacy, data literacy is a skill that we learn. We covered the basics of these skills in our intro-level workshop called Data Interpretation, and offered guidance on how to conduct market research and access relevant data. Attendees of the Basic Data Visualization workshop used these skills as a foundation to create charts using Census bureau data sets in Excel. In the final workshop of the series, Data Visualization, attendees learned how to use Tableau Public, a free data visualization software. Each workshop was offered for free at Seattle Public Library, Kent Regional Library, and the Lake Washington Institute of Technology. 

“This was a very interactive way to get more information,” said workshop attendee Luke Fiorio. “I liked how the workshops escalated in terms of difficulty.”

The workshops, which were open to the public, had a special focus on community organizers, nonprofit communicators, and small business owners, along with college students and advanced high school students interested in business, technology, social work, public health, and social sciences.

“There was a resounding interest from the community,” Lyman said. “All of our spaces filled up and then some.” 

Workshop attendee and University of Washington student Erika Enomota appreciated the professional diversity of the attendees. 

“I got to meet people from different backgrounds and learn why they were drawn to data visualization,” she said. “I like that not everyone there was from the same company, so you could hear the different ways people will use the data.” 

The Washington Census Alliance helped get the word out by promoting the workshops via email to their 55 member organizations, all of which are led by and serve communities color, which have been historically undercounted in previous Census counts. 

“We’re really appreciative of what WTIA is doing because many of the trusted messengers from our member organizations come from working class communities. Most of the leaders who are having the conversations on the ground are not college educated, and what WTIA is doing is making the data behind Census outreach so much more accessible,” said Kamau Chege, manager of the Washington Census Alliance. 

Taylor Hoang, Census 2020 Washington Partnership Liaison, also views the workshops as a unique way to more deeply engage community leaders with the Census.

“We’ve been impressed by how innovative and creative WTIA’s approach has been in engaging the tech industry in conducting outreach to trusted messengers from hard-to-count communities,” she said.

According to Chege, the workshops also bring into focus the opportunities and challenges of Census engagement.

“The workshops help people understand where there’s a risk for potential undercounting. For example, some people might know there’s a community of color on a certain side of town, but they might not know there’s a possibility to undercount based on historical self-response data,” he said. “The workshops help people have richer outreach strategies that are informed by richer data, not just anecdotal data they gather from their lives.” 

For attendees like Enomota, the knowledge gleaned from the workshops not only honed new skills but also gave a boost of inspiration to inspire others to participate in the Census.

“I’ve always been pro participating in the Census,” she said. “But now I feel like I can speak to why we have the Census to allocate resources for our communities, help people feel empowered, and understand how our participation will help our communities.” 

WTIA would like to thank the 20+ community organizers we met with in a Census session held during the 2019 FullConTech conference, during which we gathered input on how to develop the curriculum. The Seattle Foundation, Washington Census Alliance, and Philanthropy Northwest helped with outreach, and the curriculum was developed with additional guidance from Tyler Technologies and Data Story Academy. We would like to give a special shoutout to Data Story Academy, who generously donated $15,000 worth of online training.

We would also like to thank the following people and organizations:

Our venue partners: Seattle Public Library, Lake Washington Institute of Technology, and Kent Regional Library.

Our promotional partners: Seattle Public Library, Lake Washington Institute of Technology, and Kent Regional Library, AppConnect NW, Office of Financial Management, Census 2020, WA Census Alliance, City of Seattle, Department of Neighborhoods, Lutheran Church.

Volunteer trainers and teacher’s assistants: James Lenihan of Tableau, Rashea Hamilton of Washington Student Achievement Council, John Hamlin of Launch Consulting Group, Steven Fishbach of Launch Consulting Group, Kate Ito of Washington Department of Transportation , Richard Todd of City of Seattle, Fuzz Azni, James Yuan of Microsoft, Ben Moschel of Tableau, Janet Shen of Marquis Data, and Ron Hidalgo of Launch Consulting Group.

WTIA Staffers includes Judy Lee, Julie Pham, Hnin Johnson, and Callie Chadwell.
To see recordings of the workshops, please visit here.