# Position: The data I use appears to be gone, and I need a substitute

**URL:** https://community.weallcount.com/t/position-the-data-i-use-appears-to-be-gone-and-i-need-a-substitute/4256
**Category:** WAC Playbooks
**Tags:** tde-playbook:-us-gov
**Created:** [November 21, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://community.weallcount.com/t/position-the-data-i-use-appears-to-be-gone-and-i-need-a-substitute/4256 "2025-11-21T18:18:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Heather](https://community.weallcount.com/user_avatar/community.weallcount.com/heather/32/6_2.png) [@Heather](https://community.weallcount.com/u/Heather)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://community.weallcount.com/t/position-the-data-i-use-appears-to-be-gone-and-i-need-a-substitute/4256/1 "2025-11-21T18:18:19Z")

</div>

_Example: The ACS 2020 Non-Release Crisis. The American Community Survey (ACS) 1-year 2020 dataset was not released due to pandemic disruptions and nonresponse bias. The Census Bureau determined that response rates were too biased for a valid national 1-year estimate. Programs depending on ACS like housing, transit equity, poverty estimates were suddenly without their core inputs._

**Play: Non-profit Organizations**

Identify alternate datasets that answer the same question, even if they come from non-federal sources. Use KFF, PRB, CIDRAP, KidsData, and similar sources. [https://www.kff.org/](https://www.kff.org/)

**Play: Modelling**

Use modelling (MRP, small-area estimation, crosswalks) to rebuild the indicator from partial data.

These tools allow you to estimate outcomes for small populations or geographies. [https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lme4/lme4.pdf](https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/lme4/lme4.pdf)

**Play: Administrative Databases**

Shift to administrative datasets that still exist and are consistent across years.

Consider USPS, NHTSA, hospital discharge, school enrollment, and utility arrears. [https://cdan.dot.gov/](https://cdan.dot.gov/)

**Play: Reconsider**

Re-ask the underlying question with your community or funder to determine whether the indicator is still the right one. Use facilitated reconsideration methods. [https://belonging.berkeley.edu/](https://belonging.berkeley.edu/)

**Play: Replace**

Replace national survey data with regional collaboratives or multi-state pooled data. These can answer similar questions with different inputs. [https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/about/press/pr2025/announce-northeast-public-health-collaborative.page](https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/about/press/pr2025/announce-northeast-public-health-collaborative.page)

**Play: Build Back Better**

Build a community-owned data cooperative to re-collect the needed indicators from the ground up. Community Data Cooperatives (Civic Data Cooperative). [https://civicdatacooperative.com/project/community-data-conversations/](https://civicdatacooperative.com/project/community-data-conversations/)

**Play: Synthesize**

Social scientists used synthetic microdata derived from earlier stable years.

**Play: Public-Private Alliance**

The National Labor Exchange (NLx) is a public-private partnership between DirectEmployers and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA). predicts BLS job openings a month in advance, leveraging cooperative data [https://usnlx.com/](https://usnlx.com/)

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Anything else we should add?