opportunity.census.govThe Opportunity Project

-- Skip to main content An official website of the United States government Here’s how you know Here's how you know -- The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site. The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. -- Menu ABOUT PROCESS PRODUCTS NEWS DATASETS TOOLKIT Get Involved Our Process How it Works Roles Tech Teams Government User Advocates Product Advisors Close Search Search -- About Process Products News Datasets Toolkit Get Involved Participate in the American Statistical Association Data Challenge Expo → Putting America's data to work for the people We help teams use federal open data to build solutions to our nation’s toughest challenges OUR MISSION Finding federal data is hard. Making an impact with it is even harder. That’s where we come in. We connect you with experts from the tech industry, communities, and government to help you turn federal open data into life-changing tech, faster. OUR PROCESS 1 Identify challenges Federal agencies and advocacy organizations identify our nation’s most pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges. 2 Team up Teams from companies, universities, and more sign up to build digital products that use federal open data to help solve these challenges. 3 Build Over 12 weeks, teams build their solutions. Experts provide feedback on user needs, product strategy, and the best datasets available to solve each problem. 4 Launch & scale Teams launch their products at our annual Demo Day showcase. Afterward, we continue to help teams deploy their solutions to their target end users. Learn More 100+ Consumer-facing digital tools built through our sprints since 2016 800+ Contributors including designers, developers, data stewards, and community advocates 34 Unique problem statements addressed through TOP FEATURED City Builder CITI VENTURES Bringing transparency to the Opportunity Zone ecosystem for private investors, fund managers, wealth managers, and municipalities View Case Study FEATURED SILLE DATA OVELA Helping leaders prepare for crisis by identifying whether local infrastructure is at risk of catastrophic failure View Case Study FEATURED PRADOS ICASAPR Helping municipalities and communities in Puerto Rico collect and use address data to improve emergency response View Case Study All Products View 2019 Annual Report (PDF) PAST PARTICIPANTS TOP is building something that is new and really powerful. With government as a convener, it can get people together around a problem who wouldn’t otherwise be working together. Rob Lalka Public Democracy [TOP] really represents the best of what government can be — a platform for engagement that is so core to our democracy. Denice Ross Georgetown University The emphasis on human-centered design and the opportunity to speak to all of these different advocates and stakeholders was key in creating a product that would actually help the end user. Ryan Harper CITI VENTURES Get Involved Join a community of hundreds working to transform America’s data into America’s innovation. Tell us what you’re interested in. We’ll keep you posted about opportunities to join a sprint, attend an event, and more. View Sprints Get Updates Build with open data TOP PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TOOLKIT Not able to join a TOP sprint? Use our product development toolkit—based on the TOP sprint model—to create civic impact with open data. We cover user research, navigating federal data, and more. Run a TOPx sprint COMING SOON Are you a federal agency looking to adopt model? Use our TOPx toolkit—a step-by-step resource complete with sample materials—to help run your own TOP sprint. News MARCH 2020 Marks 100 Product Milestone Meritalk Census Project Matches Your Agency's Data with Civic Innovators NextGov DECEMBER 2019 How Federal Agencies Can Use Agile Development to Apply Open Data Fedscoop JUNE 2019 Want to write a story on TOP? Let's Talk President Obama's new open data initiative could help cities help themselves TechRepublic MARCH 2016 Return to Top Get Involved Sprints About Our Process Datasets Products Stay in the Loop Subscribe to an email list to be notified of news and opportunities. Join Email List U.S. Census Bureau Census Open Innovation Labs Privacy Accessibility census.opportunityproject@census.gov...