Activists prep for 2020 census
Groups in California and elsewhere engage schools and clinics to reach Latino residents.
Groups in California and elsewhere engage schools and clinics to reach Latinos.
SAN DIEGO — The 2020 census may not be the most glamorous topic, but it has huge ramifications for California and the rest of the U.S.
That’s why it was one of the first topics discussed at the UnidosUS conference in San Diego that kicked off Saturday.
More than 100 community advocates filled a room at the San Diego Convention Center to hear from a panel of researchers and community activists who are aggressively trying to ensure that the Latino population is properly counted across the U.S. in the upcoming census.
“There are 56.5 million Latinos living in the United States and roughly 1 in 3 live in hard-to-count communities,” said Diali Avila, a senior field manager with The Leadership Conference Education Fund. “Those are discouraging numbers, so we have to make sure in 2020 that does not happen.”
The census determines how many seats each state gets in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives, as well as how billions of federal dollars are divvied up among states. Those dollars in turn are used to fund a variety of priorities such as public schools, reduced lunches, community health centers, Head Start childcare programs and roads and highways projects.
But despite its importance, undercounting is a consistent problem that occurs with the census. Members of certain communities that have historically been undercounted include immigrants — in the U.S. with and without authorization — low-income earners and people of color.
Undercounting is especially common in Latino communities, which is particularly problematic for a place like California, home to an estimated 15 million Latinos.
Overall it’s estimated that 72% of all Californians, 29 million people, belong to one or more groups the census historically undercounts, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Given the massive stakes, community organizations are aggressively trying to ensure an accurate count, but there’s great variety in the buy-in from governors and other state elected officials.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators have committed more than $154 million to trying make sure the 2020 count is as accurate as possible. That is in sharp contrast to the commitment from Florida, a state that has the third-largest Latino population.
Florida Gov. Ron Desantis said in June that his state will commit no money to ensuring an accurate count of its residents, saying it’s the federal government’s job to administer the census how it sees fit.
The discrepancy among states makes it even more important for community organizations to buy in, panelists said.
Nancy Maldonado, president and chief executive of Chicano Federation of San Diego County, told attendees about the way her organization has sought to engage community members and ensure an accurate census count in the region.
“The first thing we wanted to focus on was the hard-count index and the community-based organizations that are already in those communities,” she said.
Maldonado emphasized that building partnerships with organizations and natural leaders already working in the community is incredibly important because it helps residents learn about the census from trusted messengers.
Research has shown that members of historically undercounted communities such as Latinos cite distrust of the government and privacy concerns when it comes to the census, said panelist Maria Faini, who is a narrative impact analyst at Race Forward, a nonprofit racial justice research organization.
Maldonado said in San Diego, the Chicano Federation has partnered with individuals involved with schools as well as with another group that allowed them to meet people while they are waiting in community clinics.
“You have to meet people where they’re at,” she said. “We can’t expect them to come to us to get the education.”
On the other side of the country, Josie Bacallao and Hispanic Unity of Florida are engaged in similar efforts. Bacallao, the group’s president and CEO, told attendees the group has engaged early-learning centers as well as after-school programs to spread awareness of the census count.
She also stressed the importance of reaching out to local elected officials because they should care about the effect the census will have on their municipality’s funding, and the importance of collaborating with community organizations that advocate on behalf of other undercounted groups.
Although it wasn’t the primary focus Saturday, looming large over 2020 census is also an ongoing legal battle between many states and President Trump’s administration.
Trump hopes to include a citizenship question in the census, something critics say is intended to scare immigrants — regardless of their legal status — from responding, severely damaging the ability to accurately count several communities, especially Latinos and Asian-Pacific Islanders.
Avila, from The Leadership Conference Education Fund, said that some research has suggested such a measure could lead to more than 6 million residents not responding to the survey.