This request was in the Association of Public Data Users (APDU) email list: 

American Community Survey Workshop

The Committee on National Statistics, with sponsorship from the Census Bureau, is convening a Workshop on the Benefits (and Burdens) of the American Community Survey, ideally to occur in mid-June.  This workshop is intended to showcase the nonfederal uses of the ACS, while at the same time taking stock of the burdens that it imposes on the public, and to suggest priorities as ACS data users transition from the products of a long-form sample to the range of ACS products.

The steering committee is engaging in a broad scan of users (and potential users) of the ACS, to help shape a useful and informative agenda.  At this stage, the steering committee would greatly appreciate it if you could send a brief email, indicating whether:

• you are an ACS user, whether of 1-, 3-, or 5-year estimates, or particularly of the PUMS or summary files;
• you are doing or have done work using ACS data that might be appropriate to showcase at the workshop; and
• you know of people doing applied work with the ACS.

Please send responses to Ken Hodges.  

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THEY ARE LOOKING FOR POTENTIAL PARTICIPANTS.    I am thinking that based on the October TRB Census conference, some of the people who might want to contact Ken Hodges might be:

    Mara Kaminowitz, Baltimore Metro Council re:  uses for environmental justice analysis and TIP evaluation

    Behruz Paschai et al from NCTCOG re: problems with average hhld size and use in population forecasting

    Demetri Messen, HGAC re:  using  ACS PUMS for demographic and economic forecasting

   Guy Rousseau,  ARC re: using ACS in population synthesis for activity-based models

    Someone representing using CTPP with or without LODES (LEHD) for transit New Starts

In addition to this planned workshop, the Census Bureau also sent out an email request for feedback on the ACS.  The CTPP Oversight Board is working on a coordinated response.  For more information about that, please contact Penelope Weinberger at AASHTO:   pweinberger@aashto.org    While I haven’t seen a recent draft, I know that some of the topics that have been discussed include:  improving data access (i.e.  problems with AFF), adding a geographic unit like a TAD for 3-year tabulation for complete geographic coverage (no swiss-cheese), and adding a simple home-to-work tabulation of worker counts to the 3-year (PUMA or TAD) and 5-year tabulation (tract).

Elaine Murakami

FHWA Office of Planning

206-220-4460 (in Seattle)