Ditas Katague - National Advisory Board Member
Former Associate Director for Communications and Engagement at the U.S. Census Bureau
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Ditas Katague is a democracy strategist and institutional leader with 25+ years building the trusted-messenger infrastructure that connects American institutions to the communities they serve. She is the creator of the trusted-messenger ecosystem model first piloted in California in 1999 (for Census 2000) and later scaled to national federal operations, a framework now cited as a breakthrough approach to community-driven communications and civic trust-building.
Ditas is founder and President of The Ditas Group, LLC, where she advises California government, philanthropy, and civic-sector leaders on strategies spanning democracy strengthening, election administration, and civic engagement. She currently advises the California Democracy Partnership and is a primary architect of California's proposed VOICES (Voter Outreach Information & Corps for Election Safety) program, which would build a statewide trusted-messenger network, an Election Administration Fellowship, and a multi-county Election Safety Corps.
She has been appointed by the President of the United States and three California Governors to lead institutions with budgets up to $267M and teams of 200+, including Associate Director for Communications & Engagement at the U.S. Census Bureau, Director of California Complete Count Census 2000, 2010 & 2020, and Chief of Staff to a CPUC Commissioner. She served as Principal Advisor for Community Outreach & Engagement on California's VOTE SAFE Program and the 2025 Special Election (Proposition 50).
A first-generation Filipino-American, Ditas holds an MPA from USC and a BA from UC Berkeley. She speaks frequently on the topics of political inclusion, data stewardship, Change Leadership, trust building & outreach to vulnerable populations. Ditas is meditation and yoga teacher and an artist (www.grievingthruglee.com). She is also a first-generation, daughter of Filipino immigrants, and community organizer.