Today, Congress passed the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act which directs the Office of Personnel Management to establish an occupational series for digital careers, including data science and data management. On behalf of Data Coalition Initiative members, Data Foundation Policy Director Corinna Turbes offered the following statement:

“We are thrilled to see Congress take this important step in creating a federal workforce that is equipped to manage and leverage data across federal agencies. The Data Coalition Initiative has been a strong advocate for the creation of a data science occupational series in government.  Improving the recruiting and retention of top talent in the federal government’s workforce is crucial to creating data literate organizations that can fully realize the benefits of leveraging data for evidence-informed decision making.”

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The Data Coalition is an initiative of the non-profit Data Foundation. The membership-based initiative facilitates a strong national data community and advocates for responsible policies to make government data high-quality, accessible, and usable. The Data Coalition’s work unites the data communities that focus on data science, management, evaluation, statistics, and technology, including individuals in companies, nonprofit organizations, and academia.