- Christina Stoehr, branch chief, Web and New Media, U.S. Census Bureau
What is the point of counting every resident in the country?
In the words of the U.S. Census Bureau, “the census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation, and helps our communities determine where to build everything from schools to supermarkets, and from homes to hospitals. It helps the government decide how to distribute funds and assistance to states and localities. It is also used to draw the lines of legislative districts and reapportion the seats each State holds in Congress.”
Given this impact, it was critical for the U.S. Census Bureau to pivot away from traditional survey collection methods and toward a digitized solution. For the first time in 200 years, the 2020 census was offered online in a fast, reliable, safe, and secure digital experience.
I sat down with Christina Stoehr, branch chief of Web and New Media at the U.S. Census Bureau to uncover how they made this incredible shift with such enormous implications on the country, all within the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Illuminating a digital path forward
The Illuminator award is a new addition to the 2021 lineup of Adobe Experience Maker Award categories. It recognizes resiliency and the ability to rise above unprecedented circumstances like COVID-19, exemplified by the U.S. Census Bureau team.
“Planning for the 2020 census started over a decade ago, but I don’t think any amount of crisis planning included accounting for the possibility of a pandemic,” Christina told me.
While the bureau planned to go digital for 2020 with a mobile-first and web experience approach, the team was laser-focused on seeing a decade’s worth of planning through to a successful count. They used Adobe Experience Cloud to implement a full digital transformation, harnessing site visitor data to inform better site navigation with Adobe Analytics, ensuring scalable and secure content to power the census websites on Adobe Experience Manager, and optimizing ads with Adobe Target to encourage greater participation.
Along with the trusted voices of over 400,000 national and community partners, the Bureau successfully reached 67 percent of U.S. households through their efforts.
Aligned to one, singular mission
The core of this Illuminator category truly is resilience. I asked Christina what helped her team stay motivated and productive through the disruption: