America’s most trusted and diverse voice on Census issues. We bring together the common interests of more than 800 local, state and national organizations who are dedicated to providing policy makers and the public the highest quality data on the progress of our nation.
Mission
Lead the Fight for Quality Data
Our stakeholders work collaboratively to encourage Congress and the Administration to fund all phases of the next decennial census and the ongoing ACS.
They share the common goal to ensure that timely, accurate, and reliable socio-economic and demographic data are collected and disseminated broadly to support informed decision-making in the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors. They are committed to enhancing official statistics that are trusted, reliable and comparable for every community in the nation.
Listen to communities
The Census Project also supports maintaining the ACS as a mandatory survey, to preserve the availability of reliable, irreplaceable data for all communities, including rural areas, neighborhoods, American Indian reservations and Alaska Native villages, and small populations groups (such as people with disabilities, veterans, and national origin subgroups).
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted several times, through amendments to the Census Bureau’s annual appropriations bill, to make response to the ACS voluntary, and once to eliminate the ACS entirely. Census Project stakeholders were instrumental in convincing Congress, ultimately, to drop these ill-advised proposals.
The ACS Survey
Our Activities
How we work
The Census Project’s activities include letters to Congress and the Administration; congressional briefings; fact sheets; press briefings; testimony at congressional hearings; blogs and articles; and regular updates to our national network of stakeholders. We keep stakeholders, the public, and the media informed about key policy and operational developments related to the 2030 Census and ACS, including important research, testing, and development milestones.
“The Census Project has the unique ability to not only monitor what the Bureau is doing, but to also weigh in on the future.”
Senate majority appropriations committee staffer
Census Project Co-Directors
Mary Jo H. Mitchell
Director of government affairs, population association of America and association of population centers
co-director, the census project
Since January 2004, Mary Jo H. Mitchell has been the Director of Government Affairs for the Population Association of America and Association of Population Centers. In addition to representing PAA and APC, Ms. Mitchell has co-directed The Census Project since 2008. Prior to her position with PAA/APC, Ms. Mitchell worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for approximately 10 years, as the Legislative Officer at the National Institute on Aging and as the Special Assistant to the Director of the NIH Office of Policy of Extramural Research Administration. Ms. Mitchell held positions on Capitol Hill as a Legislative Assistant for U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro and Legislative Correspondent for former U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman. Ms. Mitchell has a Master of Public Administration from George Washington University and is a former Presidential Management Fellow. Her recent leadership positions include serving as President of the Association of Public Data Users, 2021-2022, and as the Chair of the Associates Board of Directors for the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, 2011-2012. In March 2024, Mary Jo was appointed by the U.S. Census Bureau to serve on the 2030 Census Advisory Committee.
Howard Fienberg
Senior vp advocacy, insights association
co-director, the census project
Howard is the Insights Association’s lobbyist for the marketing research and data analytics industry, focusing primarily on consumer privacy and data security, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), tort reform, and the funding and integrity of the decennial Census and the American Community Survey (ACS). He has also been co-director of the Census Project since early 2018.
Before the Insights Association, he worked in Congress as senior legislative staffer for then-Representatives Christopher Cox (CA-48) and Cliff Stearns (FL-06). He also worked more than four years with a science policy think tank, working to improve the understanding of scientific and social research and methodology among journalists and policymakers. Howard formerly served on the Board of Directors for the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics and is a past member of the Board of Directors for the Association of Government Relations Professionals.
He has an MA International Relations from the University of Essex in England and a BA Political Studies from Trent University in Canada, and has obtained the Certified Association Executive (CAE), Professional Lobbying Certificate (PLC) and the Public Policy Certificate (PPC).
Howard’s father was a statistics professor and decades-long advisor to (and critic of) the Census Bureau, giving him deep Census roots.
Steve Jost
Consultant, the census project
Steve Jost is Senior Vice President, Content Strategy for Avoq, and a consultant to The Census Project. He is a former Associate Director for Communications at the Census Bureau, where he led the massive outreach and advertising efforts in support of both the 2000 and 2010 Census. Steve also previously worked on Census oversight and funding on the Hill.
Ex-Officio Members
Mr. Vince Barabba
U.S. Census Bureau Director
1973-76 and 1979-81
Dr. Steven Dillingham
U.S. Census Bureau Director
2019-2021
Dr. Robert Groves
U.S. Census Bureau Director
2009-2012
Mr. James F. Holmes
U.S. Census Bureau Director
1998
Mr. Thomas Mesenbourg, Jr.
U.S. Census Bureau Acting Director
2012-2013
Dr. Ken Prewitt
U.S. Census Bureau Director
1998-2001
Dr. Marty Farnsworth Riche
U.S. Census Bureau Director
1994-1998
Mr. Robert L. Santos
U.S. Census Bureau Director
2022-2025
Advisory Committee
Meeta Anand, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Nia Duggins, National Association of REALTORS
Paul Emrath, National Association of Home Builders
Andy Fishburn, ICSC
Joseph Fortson, Nielsen
Terri Ann Lowenthal, Consultant
Terry Ao Minnis, Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Dante Moreno, National League of Cities
Joan Naymark, Minnesotans for the American Community Survey
Bill O’Hare, O’Hare Data and Demographic Services
Steve Pierson, American Statistical Association
Arturo Vargas, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Education Fund
Our Supporters
We receive support from a variety of sources but are especially grateful to our major donors who have consistently supported our efforts for many years.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
https://www.aecf.org/
Good census data undergirds the overall mission of The Annie E. Casey Foundation on strengthening families, building stronger communities and ensuring access to opportunity.
Carnegie Corporation of New York
https://www.carnegie.org/
We are part of a portfolio of organizations the Carnegie Corporation supports that aid in the accurate counting of all residents in the U.S. census, which informs the proper distribution of government services and helps civic and business leaders meet the needs of their evolving communities.
Our History
History of the census project
The Census Project began as the “Census 2000 Initiative” in 1996, supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation with the goal of filling an education and communication void identified by census stakeholders. They worried that there was no effective forum to access information about the census funding cycle, congressional deliberations, Census Bureau operational plans, policy announcements, and other related work of the Census Bureau. They foresaw the need for a network through which census stakeholders could share information, more effectively represent the interests of communities and coalitions, develop messages, and collaborate to educate policymakers, the media, and general public about census-related issues, including annual funding and decennial census operations, especially since the decennial Census and American Community Survey are essential to core democratic processes.
The coalition has grown to encompass a broad cross-section of local, state, and national organizations representing the private, public, non-profit, and academic sectors, all of whom rely on objective, reliable data that the Census Bureau produces to inform evidence-based investment, policy and planning decisions.