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The U.S. Census Bureau announced today the establishment of the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations and has named Altagracia Ramos as a member of the committee.

The National Advisory Committee will advise the Census Bureau on a wide range of variables that affect the cost, accuracy and implementation of the Census Bureau's programs and surveys, including the once-a-decade census. The committee, which is comprised of 32 members from multiple disciplines, will advise the Census Bureau on topics such as housing, children, youth, poverty, privacy, race and ethnicity, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and other populations.

“We expect that the expertise of this committee will help us meet emerging challenges the Census Bureau faces in producing statistics about our diverse nation,” said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau's acting director. “By helping us better understand a variety of issues that affect statistical measurement, this committee will help ensure that the Census Bureau continues to provide relevant and timely statistics used by federal, state and local governments as well as business and industry in an increasingly technologically oriented society.”

The National Advisory Committee members, who serve at the discretion of the Census Bureau director, are chosen to serve based on expertise and knowledge of the cultural patterns, issues and/or statistical needs of hard-to-count populations.

Altagracia Ramos was an original advocate for the formation of the Ohio Commission on Spanish Speaking Affairs. She is also founder of the Ohio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. She currently serves on the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Minority Outreach Committee and was recently recognized as a 2012 Ohio Champion of Diversity Pioneer. She was appointed by President Bush to the Department of Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute Board of Visitors, the Ohio State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and the President's Advisory Commission on Excellence in Education for Hispanics. She was named Hispanic Business Advocate of the Year by the Ohio Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and Distinguished Hispanic Ohioan by the Ohio Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs. She is a retired Ohio Civil Rights commissioner and a member of the Wright State University Board of Trustees.