Community Organizing for the 2020 Census – Undercounted Communities

Posted by Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) on September 15, 2020

Each of us knows the importance of the US Census. And that’s the reason why your influence is needed. The decision to end the count early will adversely affect important decisions for the next 10 years. Participation in the 2020 census has been significantly hampered by the decrease in door-to-door canvassing due to COVID19 and regrettably, communities disproportionately impacted by COVID19 are at greatest risk of being undercounted in the 2020 Census.

This work is not partisan. As health equity advocates we know that it is important that we have an accurate count. If you want to save lives and improve health outcomes across this country, do something. Join Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) in an important community organizing movement.

An effective organizing movement has 5 critical elements – relationships, public narrative, structure, strategy and action. How do these connect to this movement?

Relationships –Use Naturally Occurring Networks to reach out to individuals and communities who are being undercounted. Those relationships can be through volunteer, professional, civic, religious or fraternal groups.

Narrative – The US Census does matter and so does an accurate count! Highlight the facts.

Structure –Mobilize your networks.

Strategy – Use Naturally Occurring Networks to increase the count. Your family, organization, social media. We are influencers and can drive this issue.

Action – Don’t overthink it. Do something every day for the next 30 days to increase the count. If you miss one day – double up on your efforts the next day.

The Tableau Foundation has partnered with Headwaters Economics to offer an up-to-the-minute map of response rates for communities of color and indigenous communities, a highly effective visual for the hardest-to-count communities in the nation: https://www.tableau.com/about/blog/2020/7/where-data-shows-communities-color-are-most-risk-being-undercounted-2020-census?mc_cid=bb9b2780b3&mc_eid=db5e1adac3

Also, Visit census.gov to find out more about how we can support this important count: https://www.census.gov/?mc_cid=bb9b2780b3&mc_eid=db5e1adac3

It’s not too late. Everyone Counts!!!