Data for the People!
by Data Foundation
Every day, millions of Americans rely on federal data—often without realizing it. From checking the weather forecast to planning retirement, from tracking disease outbreaks to measuring economic growth, government datasets power decisions that shape our daily lives and drive billions in economic activity. Data for the People! is a new podcast from the Data Foundation that shines a light on this essential but often overlooked infrastructure. Hosted by J.B. Wogan, each episode features conversations with leaders from the public and private sectors about the national datasets that belong to the American people and the policy changes in Washington that could enable—or limit—their use.
Episodes
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Leremy Colf on Strengthening FEMA Through Data-Informed Policy Reform
Send us Fan Mail This episode of Data for the People! features Leremy Colf, a Senior Fellow with the Data Foundation's Center for Data Policy, who recently wrote a policy brief about six practical, high-impact policy options to strengthen the Federal Emergency Management Agency by reducing waste...
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David J. Hayes on Making Climate and Environmental Data More Useful for Decisionmakers
Send us Fan Mail The latest episode of Data for the People! features David J. Hayes, an attorney and legal scholar who served in three presidential administrations, including twice as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Interior, and most recently as Special Assistant to the...
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Building Government That Works Together: Natalie Evans Harris on Data, AI, and Putting People First
Send us Fan Mail The guest for this episode of Data for the People! is Natalie Evans Harris, Chief Data Officer for the State of Maryland and a Data Foundation Senior Fellow. Harris discusses how Maryland is building a statewide data infrastructure that enables agencies to work together,...
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Better Data, Stronger Communities: Using Data to Build Resilience in a Changing Climate
Send us Fan Mail At the 2026 Data Summit, Leanne Spaulding, Resilience and Data Lead at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, moderated a conversation on how better data can support resilience, environmental risk management, and growth. She was joined by Emily Dhingra, Senior Project…
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Funding the Future of Public Data
Send us Fan Mail This episode of Data for the People! shares highlights from the Data Foundation’s 2026 Data Summit, focusing on philanthropy’s role in supporting a stronger shared data ecosystem. Data Foundation President and CEO Nick Hart moderates a conversation with Daniella Lowenberg of the...
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Taka Ariga on Using AI to Combat Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in Public Programs
Send us Fan Mail In the latest episode of Data for the People!, Data Foundation Senior Fellow Taka Ariga discusses the prospect of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance government efforts to prevent fraud and other types of improper payments in public benefit programs. Ariga was the first Chief...
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The Case for Standardizing the Way We Report Climate and Environmental Data
Send us Fan Mail This episode of Data for the People! explores a problem with climate and environmental data that burdens public agencies and the private sector: Currently, federal and state regulators have a host of different reporting requirements for climate and environmental data, such as…
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Brett Loper on Using Data Tools to Prevent Improper Payments
Send us Fan Mail On the latest episode of Data for the People!, Brett Loper discusses policy options for using data tools to prevent improper payments in federal benefit programs. The options appear in a new report produced by the Data Foundation and our Fiscal Intelligence Initiative, with…
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Claire McKay Bowen on the Role Federal Statistics Play in our Daily Lives
Send us Fan Mail On the latest episode of Data for the People!, Claire McKay Bowen discusses the role federal statistics play in our daily lives, strategies for communicating the value of government data, and her vision for the future of data sharing and data privacy. Bowen is a data privacy…
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NORC's David Dutwin on How Americans Use and Think about Federal Data
Send us Fan Mail The latest episode of Data for the People! features David Dutwin, executive director and senior vice president of AmeriSpeak, a panel-based research platform from NORC at the University of Chicago. Dutwin joins the show to discuss Americans’ trust in federal statistics, science,...
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Bill Hoagland on Restoring Public Trust in Government Data
Send us Fan Mail In the inaugural episode of Data for the People!, J.B. Wogan (host) and Nick Hart (President and CEO of the Data Foundation) discuss the Data Foundation's mission to promote open data and evidence-informed policymaking. They introduce Bill Hoagland, Senior Vice President at the...
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Trailer: Data for the People!
Send us Fan Mail Every day, millions of Americans rely on federal data—often without realizing it. From checking the weather forecast to planning retirement, from tracking disease outbreaks to measuring economic growth, government datasets power decisions that shape our daily lives and drive...
About this show
Every day, millions of Americans rely on federal data—often without realizing it. From checking the weather forecast to planning retirement, from tracking disease outbreaks to measuring economic growth, government datasets power decisions that shape our daily lives and drive billions in economic activity.
Data for the People! is a new podcast from the Data Foundation that shines a light on this essential but often overlooked infrastructure. Hosted by J.B. Wogan, each episode features conversations with leaders from the public and private sectors about the national datasets that belong to the American people and the policy changes in Washington that could enable—or limit—their use.
Hosted by
Data Foundation
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