Data Skills for Congress

A professional learning certificate program for congressional staff

Admission for the 2024 cohort is now closed.

BACKGROUND

Good policy depends on good data, and lawmakers need foundational knowledge in order to unlock data for effective decision-making. This program offers Congressional staff training to improve their use of data and to create policies that ensure accurate, usable data flows within government. 

Led by experts in government data systems, data policy, congressional data use, and data standards, this first-of-its-kind professional learning program provides participants with examples of how to use data in policy-making, how to turn data from spreadsheets into persuasive stories, and how to use legislation to unlock useful—and usable—data.

Students leave the certificate program with new skills in data analysis and visualization, familiarity with current and emerging federal data policies, an understanding of the challenges of combining local and federal data, and a basic introduction to data practices within Congress. In addition, the 2024 certificate program will include content on artificial intelligence (AI) and will discuss the connections between public data and public sector AI applications.

No prior experience in data analysis, or data policy, or AI is required.

Designed to meet the busy schedules of Congressional staff members, the course is fully remote at a time that works for both DC and district staff. Participants can expect to spend 15 hours in live classes plus additional asynchronous time for pre-readings. 

This program's initial offering was approved by both House and Senate Ethics. Please see details below. 

About This Program

This program was created by USAFacts, a nonpartisan civic initiative improving the accessibility and usability of government data, in partnership with UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. Participants successfully meeting the course requirements receive a certificate of completion. No college credits are awarded.  House staff may need to file a waiver with House Ethics to receive a certificate, but all House staff can participate in the program without a waiver.

The inaugural 2023 program was taught by nationwide experts, including Sunmin Kim, lead congressional staffer of the 2020 OPEN Government Data Act; Katya Abazajian, a Beeck Center fellow and a leading researcher and practitioner focused on municipal and state data; and course lead Sarah Schacht, a former Beeck Center fellow and national expert on data standards and public health data.  Instructor bios for the 2024 program are coming soon. 

Schedule

Live classes will take place on Fridays at 11am PT/2pm ET and will run for 1.5 hours. Classes begin Friday, March 22nd and end Friday, May 31st. There will not be class on Friday May 24th in honor of Memorial Day. 

Course Format

• 15 hours of total class time spread over 10 weeks
• Two optional, in-person meetings, held in Washington, DC (a kickoff gathering and a completion celebration)
• Class welcome and kick-off before March 22nd (date TBA)
• Interactive live classes, with assigned breakout groups to foster discussion
• Guest lectures from national experts with class interaction and Q&A
• Final "capstone" project to showcase new skills

This course has been specially designed to accommodate the busy schedules of congressional staff members. Class sessions are short and fully remote, with instructional time spread over three months. To qualify for the completion certificate, students are expected to attend a minimum of 8 out of 10 live classes and complete the capstone project. Participants may apply for exemptions as needed to complete more classes asynchronously. 

Opportunities for Networking

The Data Skills for Congress certificate program includes two optional networking events for participants, both held in Washington, DC: (1) a kick-off social gathering for participants, lecturers, and guest lectures to meet one another and learn more about the course; (2) a completion ceremony, for course participants to celebrate their achievements and network together.

House Ethics Waiver and Senate Process

The inaugural 2023 program was reviewed by both House and Senate Ethics. NOTE: A new committee-review process may be necessary to ensure ethics compliance for future offerings.

Senate

Senate Ethics approved the initial 2023 program "for the good of the Senate." Members and professional staff in the Senate were allowed to participate in this program without a waiver from Senate Ethics.

House

House Ethics approved House staff to participate in the now-concluded 2023 offering of Data Skills for Congress. There was no need to file a waiver request to apply, enroll, or participate. However, to receive a completion certificate, participants were required to file a waiver request. The certificate does not confer college credit, student / graduation status, or any formal affiliation with UC Berkeley or the Goldman School of Public Policy; it is simply a recognition of participation and effort. All participants who successfully fulfill all of the course requirements can say they are course graduates. Professional staff not assigned to the House were also welcome to participate in the program without a waiver.

2024 Guest Instructors
 

Amber Thomas, Data Visualization Engineer, USAFacts

Amber Thomas is a Data Visualization Engineer at USAFacts. With a background in both research science and data journalism, she has worked on diverse projects exploring everything from dolphin communication to gender disparity in pocket sizes to the record-breaking wait times for Social Security disability applications. She enjoys making complex concepts simpler to understand and uses data visualization as her primary medium. Outside of work, you’ll often find her hiking, kayaking, or just walking around Seattle with her dog.

Tanveer Ali, Sr Data Visualization Manager, USAFacts

Tanveer Ali is the Senior Data Visualization Manager at USAFacts, overseeing visuals on the website and developing new data-based content. He has worked at USAFacts since January 2019. Formerly, Tanveer worked as a newspaper journalist, most recently at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he served as a data and graphics reporter. 

Daniel Schuman, Governance Director, POPVOX Foundation

Daniel Schuman is the current Governance Director at POPVOX Foundation and former Policy Director at Demand Progress and Demand Progress Education Fund. He led organizational efforts to strengthen our democracy, which include: reforming Congress; providing appropriate checks on the Executive branch; strengthening mechanisms for federal governmental accountability, transparency, and reform; modernizing government technology for improved responsiveness, accountability, and efficiency; empowering civil society and the press as accountability mechanisms; professionalizing federal employees; improving government ethics processes; and ensuring that the people’s voices can be heard. Daniel is a nationally recognized expert on the federal government. He has testified before Congress on government accountability, transparency, and operations, and routinely is cited as an expert by the media. He previously worked as Policy Director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington; policy counsel at the Sunlight Foundation; and as a legislative attorney with the Congressional Research Service. He graduated cum laude from Emory University School of Law. He also worked at the Constitution Project, the American Constitution Society, the House of Representatives, and the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.

Anne Meeker, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

Anne is Deputy Director of POPVOX Foundation, and a former House caseworker. She was a founding member of the POPVOX Foundation team as Director of Special Initiatives. She previously served as Director of Constituent Services for Congressman Seth Moulton, where she worked to use data and technology to deliver smarter casework services to residents of the MA06. Anne holds a bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of Oxford (St. Hugh's College), and an MSc in History from the London School of Economics. She is also a proud Clevelander, and will take any opportunity to talk up the Rust Belt.

Lorelei Kelly, Founder, Georgetown Democracy, Education + Service (GeoDES)  McCourt School of Public Policy

Lorelei is currently building a new research center at Georgetown University to support data and technology modernization in Congress. She is the former Congressional Modernization Lead for the Beeck Center and used to lead the Smart Congress initiative with the Open Technology Institute at New America. She was also at the Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation. A civil-military expert, she has spent a decade leading “Security for a New Century” a bipartisan study group in the House and Senate. Lorelei has worked with hundreds of women candidates across the USA—creating and communicating national security platforms that reflect the needs of a rapidly changing world. She attended Grinnell College, Stanford University and the Air Command and Staff College of the US Air Force.  Her interest in democracy systems was inspired in the liberation movements of Eastern Europe in 1989, when she lived in West Berlin to research nuclear arms control during the twilight of the Cold War. She has co-authored two books and numerous articles. Please see the list of her publications.

Sarah Schacht, Founder, Smarter Civic

Sarah Schacht has over 15 years of experience in a wide range of public interest technology topics. Her work as a practitioner ranges from data standards development (authoring LIVES 2.0 and SAFE 1.0), public and environmental health open data, community engagement, legislation access and transparency, and government website usability. As a social entrepreneur, she founded and led an “open gov” 501(c)3 nonprofit, Knowledge AsPower (2006-2012). From 2014 to present, Schacht is a consultant at Smarter Civic consulting, advising“civic tech” startups, federal agencies, and civil society organizations. Schacht is a frequent advisor to governments ranging from small-town mayors to presidential staff. She is passionate about transparency, data standards, citizen engagement, democratic governance, and DEI in the public interest technology workforce. At the Beeck Center, Schacht’s work focused on developing a robust and sustainable public interest technology workforce. In 2023, she designed and lead the first Data Skills for Congress certificate program. Based in Seattle, Washington, Schacht continues her work as a government consultant at Smarter Civic and is a commercial building owner in a small town at the Allgire Project, which features a several women and veteran owned small businesses and the largest mural collection on the West Coast.

Dr. Nick Hart, President, Data Foundation

Dr. Nick Hart is President of the Data Foundation, a national non-profit organization that champions the use of open data and evidence-informed public policy to improve society. He is a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and with the National Academy of Public Administration. Dr. Hart previously served as the Policy and Research Director for the U.S. Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking and worked at the White House Office of Management and Budget. He has published two books, Evidence Works: Cases Where Evidence Meaningfully Informed Policy and Evidence-Building and Evaluation in Government.  Dr. Hart was appointed by the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget to the Federal Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building, by the Comptroller General to the Government Accountability Office’s Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards (Yellow Book Council), and by the Director of the Government Publishing Office to GPO’s Transparency Advisory Group. Dr. Hart previously Co-Chaired the Select Task Force on Information Policy Reform for the National Academy of Public Administration. He has a doctorate from George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science and Master of Public Affairs degree from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Truman State University

Taylor J. Swift, Deputy Director, POPVOX Foundation

Taylor is the Deputy Director of Governance & Innovation for POPVOX Foundation. Taylor's passion for better working conditions and pay for Congressional staffers, stronger federal workforce pipelines, and greater public access to legislative information has led him to become Deputy Director of Governance and Innovation at POPVOX Foundation. Prior to joining the POPVOX Foundation, Taylor served as a senior policy advisor with Demand Progress, focusing on congressional transparency, capacity, and modernization. In 2022, Taylor led the outside effort to adopt the resolution in the House that granted collective bargaining rights for congressional staff for the first time in history. Prior to joining Demand Progress, Taylor worked as a policy fellow for the House of Representatives Democratic Caucus where he focused on budget, appropriations, education, labor, environmental, and tax policy. During his time with House leadership, Taylor worked to help stand up the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (ModCom). Taylor held over a dozen listening sessions with staff during ModCom’s inception, helping to provide critical insight into operational and technological shortcomings within Congress. Taylor graduated with his master’s degree from The University of Akron, working as a teaching assistant for the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics. When Taylor isn't working, he enjoys hosting movie parties at the DC Alamo Drafthouse and biking around the nation's capital.

Aubrey Wilson, Government Innovation, POPVOX Foundation

Aubrey is Director of Government Innovation at the POPVOX Foundation where everyday, she gets to follow her passion to raise awareness of all the good that is happening in Congress, particularly with a focus on the Legislative branch's approach to harnessing modern technology. As former Deputy Staff Director for the Committee on House Administration (CHA) in the 118th Congress, she played a lead role in making the House work more effectively through oversight of the institution's dozens of support offices. In this role, Aubrey also served as the Staff Director of the Joint Committee on Printing and oversaw the inaugural session of CHA’s bipartisan Subcommittee on Modernization. Prior, Aubrey served as Director of Oversight and Modernization for CHA during the 117th Congress following a year-long appointment as a Congressional Fellow. She is a former House legislative assistant and member of the R Street Institute Governance Policy and federal affairs team.

Questions? Please email us at congressional-data-program@berkeley.edu.

PROGRAM DATES FOR 2024: Fridays at 11AM PT/2PM ET from March 2 through May 31. More information is available via this info session recording.