Consulting

Illustration of four hands reaching upward with a heart outline in the background, symbolizing support and charity.

THE DITAS GROUP

A Sacramento-based strategic advisory firm specializing in democracy strengthening, civic data, and community-driven engagement. Founded in 2021 by Ditas Katague, the firm brings three decades of on-the-ground experience directing some of California's and the nation's most complex civic infrastructure initiatives to bear on the challenges facing government, philanthropy, and the private sector today.

Explore the firm's four core practice areas below

A city skyline with tall buildings, green trees, and a park in the foreground under a clear blue sky.

Census 2030 Strategic Advisory

For organizations seeking to invest in Census 2030, we provide the strategic counsel no one else can: what the landscape looks like, where the gaps are, how to structure public-private partnerships, what you should be doing right now, and how to measure impact. We are currently advising Philanthropy California on Census 2030 framework development and are available to advise additional government, philanthropic, corporate, and advocacy coalition clients.
We take the high-level road maps to 2030 and help you develop your specific itinerary, helping foundations, advocates, and government officials understand what they should be doing, when, and how to prepare for the 2030 Census.

Learn More

People gathered outdoors on grass, reviewing maps and documents, some sitting while others stand around, with supplies and bags nearby.

Trusted Messenger Program Design

We design the community-rooted outreach infrastructure that gets results where traditional communications fail. That includes identifying the right messenger networks, building the partnership architecture, and creating the engagement logic that connects institutional goals to community trust.

Learn More

People sitting at a table in a coffee shop or restaurant, with one person in the foreground and two people in the background, one of whom is a young man wearing a light-colored shirt.

Coalition and Partnership Development

We build the tables that need to exist and facilitate the relationships that make them productive. This includes cross-sector coalition design, intergovernmental coordination, and public-private partnership strategy.

A wall with multiple colorful sticky notes attached with push pins, some notes are pink and yellow, with handwritten notes and reminders.

Stakeholder Engagement Frameworks

We deliver the tools and training organizations need to move from transactional outreach to durable engagement, including our signature framework, the Layered Convening Model.

The Ditas Group advises and architects. Our value is in the strategy, the framework, and the relationships that make implementation possible.

A group of people sitting around a wooden table in a modern, cozy restaurant, engaged in conversation and smiling. The interior features wooden shelves with plates and bottles, pendant lighting, and large windows allowing natural light.

Strategic Planning

Facilitation and Team Building
We help organizations define their role, goals, and theory of change for complex civic engagement efforts, from statewide voter education campaigns to multi-year census investment strategies. We ask the hard questions about where resources should go and why, and build the frameworks that keep coalitions aligned over time.

A geometric flower design with alternating orange and purple petals, enclosed in a purple circle with six dot markers on its circumference.

Explore All Services

 The Ditas Group advises and architects. Our value is in the strategy, the framework, and the relationships that make implementation possible. We work with government agencies, philanthropic institutions, and civic-sector and private-sector organizations that need to reach the people civic systems most often miss.

  • For organizations seeking to invest in Census 2030, we provide the strategic counsel no one else can: what the landscape looks like, where the gaps are, how to structure public-private partnerships, what you should be doing right now, and how to measure impact. We are currently advising Philanthropy California on Census 2030 framework development and are available to advise additional government, philanthropic, corporate, and advocacy coalition clients.

    We take the high-level road maps to 2030 and help you develop your specific itinerary, helping foundations, advocates, and government officials understand what they should be doing, when, and how to prepare for the 2030 Census.

    Learn More

  • We design the community-rooted outreach infrastructure that gets results where traditional communications fail. That includes identifying the right messenger networks, building the partnership architecture, and creating the engagement logic that connects institutional goals to community trust.

    Learn More

  • We build the tables that need to exist and facilitate the relationships that make them productive. This includes cross-sector coalition design, intergovernmental coordination, and public-private partnership strategy.

    Contact Us

  • We deliver the tools and training organizations need to move from transactional outreach to durable engagement, including our signature framework, the Layered Convening Model. The model recognizes that different stakeholders need to be engaged differently, at different levels, through different relationships, and in a deliberate sequence that builds trust before it asks for buy-in. We design the full engagement architecture: who needs to be at what table, in what order, with what purpose, and how those conversations connect to decisions.

    Contact Us

  • We help organizations define their role, goals, and theory of change for complex civic engagement efforts, from statewide voter education campaigns to multi-year census investment strategies. We ask the hard questions about where resources should go and why, and build the frameworks that keep coalitions aligned over time.

    Contact Us

Get Started

We’ve Worked With

  • Logo of California Democracy Partnership featuring multicolored interconnected hands forming a circle.

    California Democracy Partnership

  • Logo for Philanthropy CA featuring a multicolored circle and blue text.

    Philanthropy CA

  • Illustration of diverse group of people over a map of the United States with red and blue stars surrounding it, symbolizing unity and patriotism.

    By the People, for the People

  • Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund

  • Catalyst California

View All
Text that reads 'evelyn & walter HAAS JR. fund' on a blue background.

“Ditas is one of those rare people who can see the big picture and figure out how to make it happen. She’s smart, strategic, experienced, and incredibly effective. She knows how to bring together people from government, nonprofits, media, academia, and other sectors, develop a plan they believe in, and turn that plan into action. She doesn’t just develop good strategies. She knows how to build the support and partnerships needed to implement them and win.” 

Raúl Macías Program Director, Democracy, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

“Ditas was appointed to head of the Communications Directorate at the Census Bureau based on her extensive experience in motivating communities across California to participate in the 2020, 2010 and 2000 Census. She conceived California's trusted messenger approach in 2000, then built and scaled it by bringing communities together in true partnerships. We were so impressed that the Bureau used that framework to build a strategy for the upcoming 2030 Census. Ditas taught us that trust isn't something a federal agency can manufacture. It has to be nurtured within communities via authenticity and living one’s values. Only then are communities willing to engage and promote participation in the census.”

Rob Santos, 26th Director, US Census Bureau

“Ditas has the unique quality of extensive experience working within government while simultaneously understanding how to partner with communities. She operates with integrity, respect, and a collaborative spirit, which are bedrocks for any good community partnership.”

Dr. John Dobard, VP Strategy & Policy, Catalyst CA

Group of diverse people forming a circle with their hands stacked together in the center, smiling and connecting in a team-building activity.
A young girl with long brown hair wearing a green hoodie, playing with bubbles outdoors in a park with green trees in the background.

Every community deserves to be counted heard, and included

The Ditas Group is a Sacramento-based strategic advisory firm specializing in democracy strengthening, civic data, and community-driven engagement

Work With Us