State to spend big on census count
Huge outreach to ensure full federal funding
SACRAMENTO — Even before President Trump abandoned his quest to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, two California governors and the Legislature set aside a record $187 million for the count — more than six times what the state spent in 2000 and 2010 combined.
Over the next eight months, the state will ramp up an aggressive outreach campaign to repair the damage that officials say Trump has caused to confidence in the census among California’s most vulnerable residents. Encouraging full participation next spring in the decennial count of every person in the United States will be crucial for determining the distribution of congressional representation and federal funding.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to block the citizenship question handed advocates a victory, but they said significant challenges remain to counteract the fear and mistrust that has built up among undocumented immigrants and their family members.
“When you turn on the news, people are still hearing a president that wants to figure out where they live,” said Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, which is helping to coordinate statewide census outreach to Latinos.
California has already been preparing for more than a year to avoid an undercount, which officials estimate could cost the state about $1,000 in annual federal funding for each person the census misses.
This has historically been a bigger problem for California than other states, because so many residents are minorities, poor, don’t speak English or
don’t have stable living situations, making them more difficult to reach. After an especially low count in 1990 — which missed an estimated 838,000 people, or nearly 3% of the population — California lost a congressional seat and at least $2 billion over the next decade.
The Trump administration’s announcement in March 2018 that it would add a question about citizenship status to the census form amplified those concerns, prompting the record state investment by thenGov. Jerry Brown and his successor, Gov. Gavin Newsom, to supplement federal outreach programs. By comparison, California spent less than $30 million for the 2000 census and about $2 million in 2010, amid the depths of the recession.
“People deserve to be counted,” said Maricela Rodriguez, director of civic engagement and strategic partnerships for Newsom. “We embrace the diversity of our state.”
The California Census Office has nearly 40 employees getting ready for next year, most of them coordinating with dozens of community organizations that have contracts to oversee regional outreach efforts or campaigns targeted at hardtocount populations, such as Native American tribal members, farmworkers and young children.
A data team mapped where those people live by census tract and developed an online portal to track outreach activities by local partners, so the state can be smarter about how it uses its resources.
Rodriguez said the community organizations are “serving as our eyes and ears about whether there are any gaps to our outreach.”
The United Way Bay Area received the $2.8 million contract for San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties, money it will largely distribute to other groups over the coming months. Stephanie Kim, who is in charge of the nonprofit’s census activities, said the United Way is reviewing 130 applications for projects to reach hardtocount populations, from neighborhood canvassing to language interpreting to online publications.
There are other significant complications to figure out.
Residents will begin getting reminders about the census in the mail less than two weeks after California’s March 3 primary election, leaving organizers to compete for public attention and advertising space. Some worry there could be a coordinated spread of misinformation by political groups, intended to drive down participation, and that fatigued voters may tune out after a contentious campaign.
The 2020 census will also be the first to be conducted primarily online, a barrier for rural areas with limited broadband internet access. During the count, the state plans to set up questionnaire assistance centers at libraries, health clinics, community centers and other places people trust.
The Sacramento Public Library is training staff and intends to have dedicated computers for customers to fill out the census at each branch. It hosted a table recently at the California State Fair where, between the corn dogs and horse shows, a trickle of people stopped by to learn about the count.
“Ask away,” said community engagement manager Cathy Crosthwaite, who wore an “I count” button. “A lot of people don’t know how important it is.”
“I guess it’s like voting,” said Kate Carlson, a 21yearold college student visiting from Nebraska.
“Except this one, you don’t even need to be a citizen to do,” Crosthwaite said, “which is key, key, key.”
Breaking through the anxiety in immigrant communities remains the biggest problem for the state’s census efforts.
As the federal government has threatened raids in recent months, Democratic politicians and nonprofits have repeatedly warned immigrants that they don’t need to open their doors without a warrant. Now, advocates will be asking them to talk to census workers showing up at their homes and to trust that these government employees won’t share their information with immigration authorities.
Community groups are also making a major push for people to fill out their forms early, to avoid being visited by census officials who are tracking nonresponses. In May, workers will begin showing up at the homes of people who have not submitted their questionnaires to conduct the survey in person.
Martinez Garcel, the Latino Community Foundation CEO, said those visits can be scary even for citizens or immigrants who are in the country legally but have undocumented family members living with them.
“If there’s anything we can do to get as complete a count as possible, it’s to get those forms filled out online on time so we can avoid those visits,” she said.
The federal government will hire hundreds of thousands of workers, known as “enumerators.” Advocates are trying to get the word about those jobs in the areas that will be the hardest to count, so people there will apply.
“The best person to knock on the door is someone who looks like their community and who speaks their language,” said Kim of the United Way.
The state is preparing a marketing campaign that emphasizes civic duty and the value of participating in the census. Much of it rests on partnering with ethnic media outlets like Univision and Telemundo, which can reach immigrants and others for whom English may not be their first language.
Rodriguez, the governor’s aide, said the campaign will show the ways people benefit from an accurate count, such as federal funding for resources like nutritional services, senior care and programs for domestic violence survivors.
“If they made a sacrifice to try and come to the country, it’s because they wanted to provide a better life for their families,” she said. “If you participate in the census, those are dollars that come back.”
The Latino Community Foundation is also opening its own campaign at the end of August, called “To resist, you must exist.” Digital ads and billboards in the Central Valley will direct people to a hotline for questions about the census.
Martinez Garcel said the motto is meant to inspire Latinos to feel courage to participate in the count as a message to the Trump administration that they will not be invisible.
Recognizing that many young people will end up filling out the questionnaires for their immigrant or nonEnglish speaking families, the foundation is hosting a festival at UC Merced in September to teach local college and high school students about the census.
Other ideas are flowing in from the community about how to reach Californians where they’re at, like a mobile team that could drive into farmworker residences with computers.
Martinez Garcel wants to put signs on the carts of palete
ros and other street food vendors. When they congregate in the afternoons to sell treats, workers could be there with iPads to help customers fill out the census.