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Data for Democracy Resources
Resources shared during events
How can you get involved?
Take Action on General Topics
The Data Foundation's #MyDataStory initiative collects real stories from Americans about how federal data helps them solve problems, make decisions, and serve their communities. Learn more here.
Join the Association of Public Data Users and sign up for emails from the Data Rescue Project.
Participate in upcoming in-person events across Connecticut as part of CTData’s Data for Democracy series.
Support planning for a high-quality 2030 Census with resources at Census Roadmap includes 2025 milestone updates.
Data Resources
America’s Essential Data catalogues many datasets that are useful by topic. You can also add to the collection if federal data you use is not listed.
IPUMS provides access to micro data from the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey, the Time Use Survey, and more. Some of the datasets can be analyzed online, while others need more advanced statistical skills.
Check out The Data Rescue Project’s list of Existing Alternative Data Sources.
Stay Vigilant with Monitoring and News Resources
Keep track of federal data being rescued at the Data Rescue Project Rescue Tracker.
Tell CTData and your Congressional representatives if you notice changes or disruptions.
Federal Data Forum - new online community hosted by the Population Reference Bureau will foster connection and collaboration among federal data users across sectors and states.
American Statistical Association is monitoring federal statistical systems.
America’s Data Index, monitoring America's federal data infrastructure from dataset availability and new releases to planned and unplanned changes to collections.
The Data Disaggregation Action Network (D-DAN) works to advance and implement federal and state policies as they relate to disaggregation by race and ethnicity through the engagement and empowerment of communities. Sign up for their newsletter for advocacy updates.
UChicago Data Mirror Project takes publicly available datasets that have been traditionally hosted on government websites and "mirrors" the datasets in an easy-to-use format.
DataIndex.US monitors submissions to the OMBto change data that will be collected.
May 30, 2025
Bridging Data Gaps and Building Community Connections Hartford
As nonprofits navigate uncertain times and the availability and reliability of federal data is becoming less certain, nonprofit and public sector professionals need to connect and discuss where to turn for reliable data. On May 30 we convened in Hartford to make connections, share resources, and spotlight state data you can trust. You can dive in and learn what was shared at this blog post.
Speaker Bios
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Patrick J. Flaherty is Director of Research at the Connecticut Department of Labor, Connecticut’s Labor Market Information shop and the Data Integration Hub for P20WIN, Connecticut’s State Longitudinal Data System. Patrick is on the P20WIN Data Governing Board and serves as the Connecticut Department of Labor’s Agency Data Officer. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Social Studies from Harvard University and his Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Connecticut. He is also Adjunct Faculty at UConn where he is teaching Principles of Microeconomics at UConn/Hartford.
Currently, Patrick is the Labor Commissioner’s designee on the Connecticut Retirement Security Program (MyCTSavings). He is also the New England representative on the Local Employment Dynamics Steering Committee.
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Scott Gaul is Chief Data Officer for Connecticut at the Office of Policy and Management where he supports the state’s efforts to improve open data, integrated data, through the state longitudinal data system, GIS data and data analytics. Previously, Scott worked on research, evaluation and community indicators at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the community foundation for the Greater Hartford region. Prior to that, he served as director of analysis in the Washington, D.C.-based Microfinance Information Exchange and worked for the World Bank, Mercy Corps, and Quantitative Risk Management. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Johns Hopkins and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago.
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Sumit Sajnani serves as the Health Information Technology Officer (HITO) for the State of Connecticut. In this role he chairs several state committees and commissions focused on health IT and is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the statewide Health Information Exchange (Connie).
Sajnani directs the development of uniform data standards and collaborates with other state officials to implement a state health information plan. He engages in the legislative processes in pursuit of Office of Health Strategy (OHS) objectives.
Previously, he spent 12 years as an executive consultant at Connecticut Department of Correction (CT DOC), driving transformational IT programs for offender management and electronic health record.
Sajnani has held several senior leadership positions in information technology, management consulting and healthcare administration. He has nearly 25 years of experience in health IT, IT strategy, planning, development, delivery, and monitoring of technical solutions.
Safeguarding Federal Data for Democracy
May 20, 2025
Federal data is the backbone of American democracy, informing everything from public health and civil rights enforcement to economic development, and community planning. Yet, recent executive actions and policy proposals threaten to diminish the scope and accessibility of federal data—especially data on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity (SOGI). Watch the video of this conversation with three national leaders at the forefront of federal data preservation, policy, and equity.
Speaker Bios
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Meeta Anand, Senior Program Director for Census and Data Equity at The Leadership Conference Education Fund, has spearheaded national and statewide coalitions to ensure accurate, equitable census counts, particularly for immigrants and historically undercounted populations. Anand will address the critical role of federal data in upholding democracy, the impact of recent moves to eliminate advisory committees and reduce data collection on race, ethnicity, and SOGI, and the consequences for representation, resource allocation, and civil rights enforcement.
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Lynda Kellam, organizer with the Data Rescue Project, has led a nationwide coalition of librarians, archivists, and data professionals working to preserve endangered federal datasets. The Data Rescue Project acts as a clearinghouse, coordinating efforts to rescue, curate, and provide sustained public access to critical data from agencies such as the CDC, Department of Education, FEMA, and HUD. Kellam will share insights from the frontlines of data rescue, highlighting the importance of community coordination, accessible repositories like ICPSR’s DataLumos, and the urgent need to prevent data loss as federal datasets on public health, education, and marginalized communities come under threat.
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Amy O’Hara, Research Professor at Georgetown’s Massive Data Institute and Executive Director of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center, and President of the Association of Public Data Users, is a leading expert in data governance, privacy, and secure data access. O’Hara’s work bridges government, academia, and nonprofits, focusing on building data infrastructure that balances privacy with the public good. She will discuss the evolving landscape of federal data policy, the foundational role of data in evidence-based policymaking, and the risks and opportunities posed by proposed changes to data collection and accessibility—especially as legislation and executive orders reshape what data is collected and shared.
Serving Clients Safely: Data Protection Strategies for Uncertain Times
October 7, 2025
Learn quick, no-cost strategies to protect client data while maintaining services. Essential for CT nonprofits navigating new privacy risks.
How can we ensure that we can provide services without risking people’s safety when sharing information? This concern has grown in recent months, and many organizations in Connecticut are seeking guidance. Join Dr. Eric Giannella of the Massive Data Institute to learn:
How to protect the data of those they serve through quick, actionable safeguards that don't require new technology.
Practical steps for assessing whether certain types of personal data can be stored separately or made less sensitive and still meet mission needs.
When to retain versus delete sensitive information to balance program effectiveness with privacy protection.
Building on the Tip Sheet Quick Improvements to Data Privacy, this session addresses the urgent issue facing nonprofits today: sensitive data in government and nonprofit repositories are increasingly being accessed in ways that violate laws and regulations, potentially undermining the trust people place in organizations when seeking critical services.
This timely webinar is essential for organizations that:
Handle sensitive client information but lack formal data governance policies.
Want to maintain their ability to serve vulnerable populations while protecting their privacy.
Need quick, implementable strategies that do not require new software or extensive programming.
Need to preserve data for program improvement and population-specific needs instead of wholesale deletion.
Suitable for executive directors, program managers, and anyone managing client data who needs practical solutions that they can communicate to colleagues.
Data for Democracy: Norwalk
October 30, 2025
CTData Collaborative is the Connecticut State Data Center, the liaison between the Census Bureau and the public. When data were taken down earlier in 2025 from many federal websites, CTData quickly downloaded datasets important to the state and to our work.
In response to this situation and the many challenges to public data that have occurred since January of this year, we at CTData have been partnering with local organizations to bring people together across the state to share information about what we know about changes to federal and state data, and also to help folks connect locally around data and strategies they can use to best serve their region.
On October 30, 2025, we partnered with Norwalk ACTS to bring this event to Norwalk. This post includes highlights from this session, but can’t do justice to the excellent presentations and conversations. We will be continuing this conversation at our annual conference on December 3. We hope you’ll consider joining us! And you can sign up for our newsletter to receive information about the next event when it is scheduled.
