Marking the 10-year anniversary of the CIO & IT Leadership Conference, the U.S. Census Bureau is partnering with the Puerto Rico IT Cluster to showcase data-driven and data-first innovations, demos, tools, and products. U.S. Census Bureau will cover topics such as Puerto Rico's federal statistical infrastructure, race and ethnicity reporting, vulnerability and resilience data, quarterly workforce indicators, and geospatial data, among others.
Jennifer Pahlka is the author of Recoding America, and a pioneer in making government work for people in the digital age. She founded Code for America in 2010 and led the organization for ten years. In 2013, she took a leave of absence to serve as U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer under President Obama and helped found the U.S. Digital Service. She served on the Defense Innovation Board, started by the late Ash Carter, under Presidents Obama and Trump. At the start of the pandemic, she also co-founded U.S. Digital Response, which helps government meet the needs of the public with volunteer tech support. She has received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and was named by Wired as one of the 25 people who has most shaped the past 25 years.
Robert L. Santos is the 26th director of the U.S. Census Bureau. His career spans over 40 years in survey research, statistical design and analysis and executive-level management. He previously served as vice president and chief methodologist at the Urban Institute, where he directed its Statistical Methods Group. Santos has held leadership positions at top survey research organizations, including the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center; the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research; and Temple University’s Institute for Survey Research.
U.S. Chief Data Scientist in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). She works at the nexus of data, tech and equity, building the capacity of federal agencies to use data and tech to drive equity in federal assistance to communities and people. Prior to this, Dominique served as the Deputy U.S. Chief Data Scientist, was an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow, and served as Associate Director of Gender and Social Inclusion at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, where she worked to drive equitable impact of international infrastructure programs in countries including Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Tunisia, and the Solomon Islands.
As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, Solomon leads HUD’s policy development and implementation to strengthen communities through evidence-based and community-driven housing and urban development policies. For over seven years, he was a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, leading research on fair and affordable housing, land use, technology and inclusive growth and recovery in cities. He has also served as a senior program officer at the Open Society Foundations, adjunct professor at NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, a law fellow at NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, and on the board of directors for the National Housing Law Project, the American Bar Association COVID-19 Task Force Committee on Evictions, and the advisory board for Up for Growth.
Under Secretary for Innovation, Information, Data, and Technology in the Governor's Office and Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Broadband Program, Office of the Governor. He has dedicated much of his career to developing new businesses focused on emerging and massive technologies. In 2021 during his tenure at PRITS, he led the launch of several citizen-facing innovations and information platforms, such as the first Digital Vaccination Credential, CESCO Digital and its Digital Driver’s License and Puerto Rico’s first Centralized Interconnectivity Platform called IDEAL.
As CEO of The Mighty Co. and Co-Founder of Onboard Cyber, Martínez builds customer experiences for a variety of industries and supports the implementation of information security controls to mitigate and transfer risk. She joined government in 2021 as Puerto Rico’s first female State CTO later became State CIO and Executive Director of PRITS, launching the first government-wide cybersecurity program, including centralized policy, monitoring, and deployment of security controls such as network and endpoint protection. She built the government’s first incident response team, as well the Cyber Force collaboration, which leveraged citizen, state, and federal engagement towards information security in Puerto Rico.
Director of the Puerto Rico Office of Management and Budget, from where he offers the Governor and the Legislature advice on the development and administration of the budget of the government and its dependencies. He was designated as PR OMB Director in January 2021. He's an attorney and business advisor with over 20 years of experience in the public and private sector. Has worked in various private law firms in New York and Washington DC focusing on areas
such as financing, investment funds and financial regulation.
Founder at Urbital LLC, empowering real estate decisions through data analytics. Author of 'From Intention to Action: A Plan for the Digitalization of Puerto Rico'. Served as CIO of the Government of Puerto Rico from 2013-2015 transforming the role of information technology into building a next-generation economy on the island. Key collaborator of Code For America (CFA) and pioneer of civic-tech ecosystem alongside Code4PuertoRico building citizen-centered solutions to drive entrepreneurial growth and civic-tech ecosystem.
CEO of AOMPR, LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in Innovation, FinTech and E-Commerce. During his tenure as Chief Information Officer from 2016-2019, the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service (PRITS) was finally created. After Hurricane Maria, Arocho led the coordination efforts between Wireless, Wired, NGO’s and Government Agencies to help restore the island communication using a collaborative approach between parties that allowed the island to recover Internet connectivity in record time.
Founder of Leadingbit Solutions, Foundation for Open Source Ecosystem Technology, and Citable.ai. Previously she was the Executive Director for IEEE SA OPEN, a comprehensive platform offering the open source community cost-effective options for developing and validating their projects. Vice President at Hyperledger, a global open source collaborative effort hosted by The Linux Foundation, where she integrated leaders in finance, banking, Internet of Things (IoT), supply chains, and manufacturing. Prior, she served as the Director of Innersource at PayPal.
Founder of Orange Sparkle Ball, an innovation and impact consultancy that accelerates initiatives in the private and public sector and works with both domestic and global partners. With an acceleration methodology rooted in design thinking and change management, OSB focuses on open innovation, innovation program design, social entrepreneurship and community activation. Meaghan's experience intersects innovation, public health, and social entrepreneurship and has taught at Georgia Institute of Technology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has been a guest reviewer at Georgia Tech since 2007, a judge and mentor for the Global Social Venture Competition and Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA), a mentor for social entrepreneurs and is a frequently invited to speak on innovation and entrepreneurship. Prior, she led epidemiology research at CDC.
Associate Director at the Center for Public Partnerships and Research at the University of Kansas. She oversees a portfolio of research, evaluation, and data science initiatives in systems that serve children, youth, and families. Dr. Garstka leads the strategic development of several software applications that support impact measurement and good practice in seven states across the country. With over 15 years of experience in implementing or leading large-scale data efforts in academic, government, and social service settings, Dr. Garstka’s expertise includes establishing data governance structures, aligning technical infrastructure, analytic tools, methodologies, and measurement to address policy questions, and turning data insights into action for better decision-making at all levels of social service systems.
As Chief Data Officer for GivingTuesday, Woodrow has been instrumental in shaping the global generosity movement and has led ground-breaking research and analysis of individual giving behaviors. He leads the Giving Tuesday Data Commons, bringing together a coalition of more than 300 collaborators and data teams in 50 countries to understand the drivers and impacts of generosity to inspire more giving of all types. Woodrow is also Founder and CEO of With Intent, an international consumer marketing agency. He's a member of the Generosity Commission Research Task Force, serves as Chair for Global Impact Canada’s Board of Directors, and is a Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School with the Technology and Public Purpose project.
. is the VP of Learning and Impact at Ajah. David is a data, measurement, evaluation, and governance expert that uses his experience in the public, private, academic, and philanthropic sectors to assist organizations and collaborations to better understand, use, integrate, govern, and share data to achieve individual and collective goals. Prior to his work at Ajah, David was the VP of Data Trusts at Brighthive, the Director of Impact at Fluxx Labs, the Director of Learning and Impact at the Houston Endowment, Managing Director of Data Governance at Teach For America, Researcher for Edvance and the Texas Education Agency. David holds a PhD in political science from Rice University in Houston, Texas and often consults on policy, data, measurement, and governance issues for various state, regional, and national initiatives.
Innovation strategist and service designer with 20 years of experience shaping change and transformation initiatives in industries from healthcare, finance, consumer, insurance, social innovation, and civic tech. He has worked on civic design projects ranging from improving the kidney transplant process across the nation to reimagining the taxpayer experience and reshaping the experience of financial aid for aspiring students. He is the Chief Design Officer at Wovenware, a Puerto Rico-based design, emerging tech, and software engineering company as well as the co-founder of SeriouslyCreative, an innovation and design consultancy. Today he works at the intersection of human centric design and data.
In 2023, the Census Bureau released estimates of the population vulnerable to the external stresses of a natural disaster (Community Resilience Estimates). These are the first estimates of their kind for Puerto Rico from the Census Bureau. Using small area modeling techniques, mathematicians created a model enabling the PRCS to be used to create commonwealth, municipio, and tract level estimates with a high level of precision. The estimates show that for individuals in the high-risk category (3+ risk factors), the estimate for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is more than double the national estimate of the United States.
The Census Bureau’s application programming interface (API) is a powerful way for developers and other users to access the most reliable source of demographic, social, and economic data in a standardized way. With over 1,300 datasets to choose from, the Census Data API supports development of applications and visualizations for a wide variety of data needs. Join this session for a live demonstration on how to navigate the Census Data API to access data for Puerto Rico geographies. You will learn how to explore the API Discovery Tool and how to edit an example query to specify the desired variables and geographies.
This workshop will introduce participants to the variety of geospatial data offerings for Puerto Rico from the U.S. Census Bureau. In this session participants will learn how to view data for Puerto Rico on a variety of Census map viewers, how to use the Census Geocoder to geolocate their own data, and where to find spatial data (TIGER data) and Census data tables to make their own customized maps in a Geographic Information System (GIS).
This session will highlight various efforts across Census Bureau to improve economic measures for Puerto Rico. Presenters will touch on both existing and proposed data collections and products that support economic advancement for Puerto Rico. Fireside chat to follow with the Small Business Administration (SBA).
Overview of the recently released Puerto Rico Quarterly Workforce Indicators (PR QWI) data product. The session includes details on the construction and data sources used to developed PR QWI, its most salient features, and an illustrative use case related to the evolution of employment in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
The Census Bureau's primary data platform, data.census.gov, provides access to the nation’s most reliable source of demographic, social, and economic data. These data provide an up-to-date portrait of Puerto Rico from popular data sources such as the 2020 Census and Puerto Rico Community Survey. They comprehensively cover Puerto Rico geographies such as all municipios, barrios, barrios-pueblo, zonas urbanas, comunidades, and other small geographic areas. Join this session for a live demonstration of data.census.gov. You will learn about multiple search strategies to access tables, maps, and profiles. We will also show how to save results and download data.
Establishing a Responsive and Inclusive Governance Structure for Multi-Sector Technology and Data Collaborations
It’s essential for community resilience to design adaptive equity-centered data governance models that are better able to respond to and meet the diverse needs of a wider network of members. Data governance models can be designed to distribute power horizontally and vertically to allow for more networked innovation, equity, and sustainability. These models are more likely to reflect the formal and informal norms and realities at all levels, thereby allowing for a more flexible and adaptive data-informed response to on-the-ground conditions, emergencies, and opportunities.
Interactive data tools and interactive mapping applications: a) Vulnerability and Risk Maps; b) Social Capital Maps; and the c) Risk and Vulnerability Portal developed with the City University of New York, Hunter College presenting vulnerability indexes grouped at the barrio level in 6 focus areas: economic development, education, infrastructure, health, environment, and housing. The vulnerability and social capital map applications were developed in collaboration with of a series of Working Groups composed of representatives from Federal and State government agencies, nonprofit organizations, trade groups and professional associations that advised as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). The Whole Community Resilience Planning (WCRP) Program is a CBDG-Disaster Recovery funded program administered by the Puerto Rico Department of Housing. to facilitate the implementation of inclusive and participatory planning processes focused on existing community vulnerabilities and needs.
Revolutionizing Codeathons: The Future of Open-Source Collaboration in Puerto Rico's Entrepreneur's Sandbox
A common pitfall of many hackathons is the creation of projects that, while innovative, often end up as abandonware due to a lack of sustained support or integration capabilities. Our platform addresses this gap. By anchoring Codeathons within Puerto Rico's "Entrepreneur's Sandbox" program, we're not just fostering innovation; we're ensuring its longevity and real-world application. This approach not only ensures GDPR-compliant innovation but also positions Puerto Rico at the forefront of sustainable technological advancements. Join us in this transformative journey, where we leverage the "Entrepreneur's Sandbox" to turn Codeathon projects from fleeting ideas into sustainable solutions.
WHO: Chief Information Officers (CIOs), IT Managers and Leaders, Fed & State Gov’t IT Officials, Academic Institutions, NGOs & Third Sector
Driving impact with data driven decision making in agriculture by preparing for future climate disasters and risk mitigation on loss of food by developing climate resilient strategies in our food supply. Additionally, how do we look at the current agriculture data to support our local agricultural producers and government to determine plans forward to address food security and drive a food positive agricultural ecosystem in Puerto Rico.
Great minds have worked to build solutions to some of society's most monumental problems. However, because we fail to leverage data, human-centered design, and lean-agile practices when we build these products, most solutions do not truly solve these problems. In this session we will discuss the main elements needed for creating successful solutions, as well as the most common mistakes made when identifying viable and lasting ones. We will provide a general view of the end-to-end elements of great products, from data decision-making to human-centered design, to lean decision-making, and successful go-to-market strategies. I will share my personal experience and learnings in managing successful products, focusing on how these elements play a vital role on the impact that the experiences we build have on people’s lives and a company’s ROI. Included in this session will be a panel of product management and user experience design experts, who will share their respective experiences with examples of existing technologies in the government, education, and healthcare sectors.
WHO: private and public sector building or investing in technologies that will solve problems for people and communities.
PRESENTATION, PANEL DISCUSSION
iCASA PR (Initiative for Civic Address Systems Assessment in Puerto Rico), with U.S. Postal Service and Enrique Volkers-Nin, Undersecretary for Data, Technology & Innovation
This panel discussion will discuss the economic impact of the lack of locatable civic addresses in Puerto Rico and the impact of the local cultural practices with geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial data infrastructures (SDIs). It will also show solutions to improve data governance and reduce the data invisibility that affects the Puerto Rican population, especially in the poorest and most underserved rural areas of the island. During catastrophic events such as hurricanes and earthquakes, residences and businesses cannot be located using traditional means of address navigation since structures, street signs, and landmarks no longer exist. Puerto Rico does not have a centralized database of addresses with geospatial coordinates for its 78 legally independent municipios. Without addresses that can be geolocated, emergency respondents aren’t able to locate households affected by disasters or effectively respond to calls for help.
ASTM International’s Advanced Manufacturing center of excellence (AM CoE) will showcase a use case of collaborative data ecosystem, comprised by the Consortium for Materials Data and Standardization (CMDS), which brings together key organizations to standardize the requirements and best practices for materials data generation and creates high pedigree “reference” datasets to greatly reduce the cost to each member organization. The ASTM CMDS works with the standards community to address the need for new and improved data-driven standards and decision making. The CMDS provides industry member values as well as the entire additive manufacturing community as a whole. ASTM International [formerly American Society for Testing and Materials] is a global leader in developing voluntary consensus standards used by individuals, companies, and other institutions around the world.
WHO: Data driven decision makers in any industry including technology, manufacturing organizations, aviation, aerospace, medical and finance.
Data as the cornerstone: Predictive Maintenance & Reliability Engineering - A roadmap for asset condition management digitalization
The speakers will present an implementation model for an Asset Reliability strategy using Predictive Maintenance digital tools as a data-driven strategy for increased industrial operational performance. Industry 4.0 has provided digital tools to companies that propose a shift from a reactive maintenance tactic to a data driven strategy for asset condition management, design, and maintenance. Developing the correct harmony amongst all these tools can support a company to achieve a more reliable operation while driving ESG goals (Environment, Social, Governance). VIBRA has been providing Predictive Maintenance services for 30 years, based in San Juan Puerto Rico. Applying these digital tools enabled scaling value delivery to international markets such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico and USA.
DEMO, DISCUSSION
The Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CUNY) and Instituto del Desarrollo de la Juventud (IDJ)
Addressing Children’s Vulnerabilities Through Data Driven Solutions: The Cases of the CVI and The Puerto Rico Children and Youth Well-Being Index
For decades children in Puerto Rico have been among the most vulnerable populations in the archipelago. Natural hazards and resulting disasters, which are expected to become more common as the planet warms, are known to exacerbate or create psychological distress and mental health emergencies among young people. Enhancing children's resilience to adversity in Puerto Rico requires innovative data driven solutions. By leveraging open and accessible data, policymakers in public and private entities can reach more informed decisions and improve the outcomes of proposed policies. Demo of two tools that follow the principles of free and open-source software to leverage accessible data and produce insight into the conditions of children in Puerto Rico. By focusing on methodological aspects and product development of Centro’s Child Vulnerability Index and IDJ’s Children and Youth Well-being Index, this session attempts to not only bring forth the needs of children in the archipelago, but also ways in which data and technology can be leveraged to improve the social conditions of children.
WHO: Government, private sector, academic institutions, community organizations, general public.
Don’t ask for any data first! How to make data collaboratives start, continue, and be useful in the public benefit sector
Join GivingTuesday and Ajah to discuss the seemingly counterintuitive ways collaborations can get started and thrive in especially complex conditions - involving sensitive data (including PHI and PII), competitors and conflicting interests, and in areas where collaboration is not a habit or tradition. The session will draw from the lessons of the GivingTuesday Data Commons, one of the social sectors most successful global data sharing projects, as well as Ajah’s experience with data collection coalitions in topics like homelessness, state level data trusts around early childhood and referral networks, and data standard initiatives in domestic and international development contexts. Learn about the technology, governance, and partnership development tactics these organizations employ to make healthy collaboratives happen.
WHO: Government and civil society leaders hoping to become more data driven and collaborative, looking to use data and technology for innovation and sustainability. Policy experts and advocates hoping to build more integrated state and local systems. CIOs and other technology leaders hoping to transform how their institutions work.
Data Design for the People: Empowered Citizen Participation, Education and Community Engagement in Puerto Rico
ABREPR, a local nonprofit, partnered with Dialogue Theory, a digital solutions company, to launch Puerto Rico’s first school report card portal. The open data portal generated over 100,000 views within the first 3 weeks of launching and has become the main point of reference for parents in evaluating school performance and parental engagement solution. You will hear about their creative process, design decisions, initial conceptions and the many challenges they had in making abretuescuela connect with parents of the school system.
The Puerto Rico Family Data Center is a data platform currently being developed, carried out by Institute for Youth Development (IDJ), and implemented by Datawheel. The platform focuses on understanding the challenges families and youth face on their path to upward economic mobility and comparing Puerto Rico and the US states in different indicators. Transparency and access to reliable data allow the audience and stakeholders to participate in a more informed way in the discussion and design of solutions. It also fosters collaboration and community empowerment, generating a sense of shared responsibility in the search for better conditions for all with an inclusive economic outlook.
WHO: Civil society, government, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders and economic development practitioners.
Exploring AI’s potential to create impact and how do we measure this? What data discoveries are coming from AI that are developing the future of emerging technologies and how do we utilize this data to drive impact. Using the data from emerging technologies to develop an inclusive and equitable access for all communities.
WHO: Government representatives, ITOs, CTOs, manufacturing and supply chain companies, academia, non-profit and a whole host of various private sector companies looking to understand and incorporate AI into their operations.
Solomon Green
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
HUD’s Approach to Evidence-based, Data-Driven and Community-Informed Policymaking and Implementation
Lightning talk highlighting the importance of evidence-based, data-driven and community-informed policymaking at HUD. This will include innovative approaches to improving the quality of the housing program parameters it produces and the housing data it collects and sponsors, as well new efforts underway to help build the capacity of HUD grantees and support community-engaged research. The presentation will also touch on housing data in Puerto Rico and the effects of data gaps on HUD’s policy development and implementation. Following the presentation, PDAS Greene will invite participants to share with HUD ideas and opportunities on how we can work together to help fill data gaps on housing and neighborhoods in Puerto Rico.
Data is considered an intangible asset and is not recognized under GAAP accounting standards. Unlike other sources of funding, we know data has value. It is challenging for traditional lenders to understand and value data, let alone lend on it, but there is absolutely no doubt to a founder that their data has financial worth. Gulp specializes in data as an asset and offers lending tailored to today’s IP and data-obsessed companies. Gulp Data recognizes your data as an asset.
A more inclusive and equitable tech & data innovation ecosystem is the foundation for equitable economic growth, advancement of civic-tech and digital resilience that harnesses the power of data to serve the people and enterprises that contribute to the knowledge economy.
This engagement anchors on the Biden-Harris administration's efforts to support Puerto Rico on a common vision around data, governance and capacity building aligned to the White House Puerto Rico Economic Dialogue’s Pillar 4, through a whole-of-government approach that prioritizes collaboration and advancement of governance models, data standards, collection, analysis of data for Puerto Rico. In particular, elevating the priority of building data capacity and infrastructure across sectors, sharing common vision that fosters a more data-driven, collaborative culture that benefits all communities.
