About

About the Census Project

The Census Project is a collaboration of state and local governments, civil rights and labor groups, housing and child advocates, businesses, professional societies, and research organizations interested in a fair and accurate census.

For more information, visit our main website at TheCensusProject.org.

The Census Project is coordinated by the Communications Consortium Media Center.

ABOUT THIS BLOG

This blog was active from September 2009 to September 2010 to chronicle the 2010 decennial census. It restarted in September 2011 to discuss several ongoing census issues.

About the Authors

Phil Sparks, executive vice president, Communications Consortium Media Center, and co-director, The Census Project

Phil co-founded CCMC in 1988 and rejoined the organization in March 1998 after a three-year hiatus serving as associate director for communications of the U.S. Census Bureau. Phil is currently co-director of the Census Project, which works to ensure a fair and accurate Census 2010. During his hiatus from CCMC, Phil coordinated a $100 million paid advertising campaign and a separate $100 million community outreach program to encourage public participation in Census 2000.

Phil has specialized in family projects at CCMC, including the Family and Medical Leave Coalition, the Act for Better Child Care Coalition, Census 2000, the Fairness Initiative on Low-Wage Work, the Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities and the Early Care and Education Collaborative, among others.

In his 30-year career in public interest communications, Phil was previously director of public affairs for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); associate director of the President’s Commission on Pension Policy; and chief of staff to former U.S. Representative Thomas J. Downey.

Terri Ann Lowenthal, consultant

Terri Ann Lowenthal is an independent legislative and policy consultant specializing in the census and federal statistics. Ms. Lowenthal is a consultant to the nonpartisan Census Project, and authors periodic Census News Briefs. Ms. Lowenthal served on the Obama Presidential Transition Team, with responsibility for the Commerce Department’s Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA), U.S. Census Bureau, and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).  She also was one of the longest serving staff directors of the census oversight subcommittee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ms. Lowenthal currently is a consultant to several 2010 census projects: (1) The Census Project , a nonpartisan collaborative effort of census stakeholders to promote a fair and accurate 2010 Census through education and communication with policymakers, the media, and the public; (2) the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights/Education Fund 2010 Census Public Education Campaign; and (3)  the Funders Census Initiative, a collaborative effort by philanthropic organizations to ensure useful data from the census, American Community Survey, and other key Census Bureau programs.

Prior to establishing a consulting practice, Ms. Lowenthal served from 1981 – 1995 as a congressional staff aide in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.  She served for eight years as staff director of the House Subcommittee on Census and Population (later renamed the Subcommittee on Census, Statistics, and Postal Personnel), where she guided the panel’s oversight of the 1990 census and the 2000 census planning process.  She also was chief of staff to Representative Tom Sawyer (D-OH), an aide to Senator Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (R-CT), and held staff positions on several House Post Office and Civil Service subcommittees and the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Ms. Lowenthal earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University and her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center.  Her professional affiliations have included the American Statistical Association, Association of Public Data Users, and the President’s Council of Cornell Women.  She currently is a member of the Cornell University Council.  Ms. Lowenthal also served as a Commissioner on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission and was a John C. Stennis Center for Public Service Congressional Staff Fellow in the 103rd Congress (Inaugural Class), later helping to establish the Center’s Emerging Congressional Staff Leadership Program.  She also was a member of New York City’s 1990 Census Complete Count Committee (appointed by Mayor Edward Koch).

Ms. Lowenthal now lives and works in her hometown of Stamford, CT.  She has also been a figure skating coach since 1974 and currently teaches at Stamford Twin Rinks.  Her daughter, Joelle, teaches first grade in Atlanta through the Teach for America program.