Article by Barbara Wheeler: “…As the Trump administration has taken down or altered hundreds of federal datasets that don’t align with their political or ideological priorities, it has become clear that the old order of our federal data system has effectively collapsed. The data systems that state and local government agencies, researchers, and community organizations once considered trusted, fixed features of the landscape are no longer reliable, have been weaponized against communities, and in some cases no longer exist.
The ongoing federal data collapse now threatens one of the nation’s most essential data sources—the US Census. Conducted every 10 years, census data is used to allocate federal funding to communities, determine political representation in Congress, and inform programs related to housing, transportation, emergency preparedness, and more. But in September 2026, the Trump administration proposed unprecedented changes to the US Census, including a prohibition on collecting data related to race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, as well as the exclusion of many noncitizen residents. These changes, if adopted, would infuse discrimination, exclusion, and inaccuracy into a critical national data source. Excluding noncitizens would also likely violate the 14th Amendment’s requirement that census results include “the whole number of persons in each State.”
While the destruction of so many federal data sources must be grieved, it also reveals a moment ripe for reimagination. We are living in a Phoenix moment: a volatile, high-potential period for transformation where we can create new and better approaches to federal data. This moment offers us an opportunity to change, and ultimately improve, how our country produces, protects, and uses civic data—information a society gathers about itself to influence governance and determine where resources should flow. Like the mythical bird of the same name, we must first contend with the burning ashes of the old data order and assess the cost of its limitations and its loss. Only then can we rise anew from the ashes with better approaches to federal data—approaches that are more inclusive, more insightful, and more actionable for communities across the nation…(More)”.
