Ortega-Moore shows journalists how to mine U.S. Census data at SPJ Colo Pro training Nov. 7.

By Ed Otte
“There are a lot of little stories in these facts,” Angeles Ortega said on Nov. 7 at the Denver Press Club.

Ortega, Information Services Specialist for the Denver Regional Office of the U.S. Census Bureau, provided a snapshot of many facts during her “Data on a Deadline” program sponsored by the Colorado Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The program was rescheduled to Nov. 7 because of the federal government shutdown in October.

Her PowerPoint presentation featured demographic profiles about Colorado, the state’s counties, cities and neighborhoods as well as national Census Bureau data. The city information ranged from Denver to small, unincorporated towns of 200 population.

“Think of our office as a resource,” said Ortega, whose Denver Regional Census Center services the 12-state Rocky Mountain area. “We have a lot of information to offer you. We’re going to talk a little bit about trends and how to utilize our data for your stories.”

As examples, she showed spreadsheets revealing demographic information about business leader activity in Adams County (the biggest business is construction), Jefferson County household information (including the number of grandparents living with grandchildren) and the state’s populartion growth.

“Colorado’s growth rate is much faster than the U.S. growth rate, double the rate,” Ortega said. “You can select which Colorado county is experiencing growth, or isn’t, and compare it to the state’s growth rate.”

That kind of drilling down to community-level information illustrates the variety of available data.

“This is like shopping on Amazon” Ortega said. “You can pick and choose what information you want.”

Nationally, the spreadsheets showed the “browning of America” with changing ethnic populations, the aging of America with the growing number of elderly citizens and economic characteristics that show a pattern of poverty.

“Thirty-one percent of the population had at least one spell of poverty lasting two or more months,” she said. “This can help you as journalists to localize national stories like food stamp benefits, which is in the news right now.”

The Census Bureau website, census.gov, provides data for deadline reporting and for in-depth research. It has links to sections for specific categories such as demographics, population, economic indicators, labor and industry data, poverty estimates, and county and zip code business patterns. The Newsroom link features press releases, tip sheets, stock photos, radio and videos in English and Spanish.

Ortega’s presentation was taped by Denver 8 TV and will be broadcast later this winter.