Why You Should Care About the 2020 Census

The Census may seem unimportant compared to current big headline issues. Yet it's fundamental to our democracy. For me, it's personal, political, and based in my deep roots in community nonprofit work.

The basics: The census counts each resident of the country every ten years ending in zero, as per the U.S. Constitution. This has included citizens, non-citizen legal residents, non-citizen long-term visitors, homeless folks, and undocumented immigrants.

Some history: The first census was in 1790. 1860 was the first year women, children, and slaves were included. Individual data is legally protected for 72 years – but from 1941 to 1947, the War Power Acts repealed this protection, thus facilitating the internment of Japanese, Italian, and German Americans.

Census data is used to:

• Determine the distribution of Congressional seats to states
• Draw electoral maps as well as maps for school and local government districts
• Make planning decisions about community services including where to provide services for the disadvantaged, build new roads, and establish new schools
• Decide how to allocate more than $675 billion in federal funds to local government programs and services

What’s up now: John Thompson abruptly resigned as Census Bureau Director in June 2016 and has not been replaced. The acting deputy director is a meteorologist. Funds for the bureau have been cut by 10%. To save money, staff has been cut, the internet will be the primary response option, and followup will focus on technological systems and third-party data rather than census workers knocking on doors. The Justice Department has requested that a question about citizenship be added to census forms. Requests to add questions about diverse populations and gender orientation/identity have been denied.

Here’s my personal story: 

     For decades I ran a small nonprofit community center in a small town in rural western Marin County. One of my very first ventures in fundraising was at a foundation serving disadvantaged populations. That program officer simply laughed at me, because, according to her, nobody was poor in West Marin, and everyone was white – it was simply a weekend destination for tourists and wealthy second-homers. I knew this wasn’t true. The folks I worked with were low to middle class; our programs included a free weekly senior luncheon, kids programs (with lots of scholarships needed), a holiday gift and food program. The workers on local dairy ranches were all Latino, and my son’s kindergarten class was 35% non-English speaking (today it’s 50%). And I myself was a full-time single mother struggling to make ends meet on a part-time nonprofit salary. But I had no data to prove this.

     So I embarked on a mission – to collect that data, and put together comprehensive information about the demographics of my community, for my nonprofit and the local nonprofits I worked with. And the primary source of this data was the U.S. Census. In 1990 and 2000, we became an official census center, providing census forms to everyone we could find plus recruiting and hosting trainings for census workers, with a focus on making sure the Latino community was counted. This wasn’t easy – folks were worried because many were undocumented. But we were able to assure them the information would help bring more services into town, and their responses would remain completely private. Given today’s climate, the proposed citizenship question would absolutely decrease participation among non-citizens and those from mixed-status families concerned about putting their relatives at risk of deportation. And the emphasis on internet response will disadvantage those who cannot afford or have limited access to broadband service.

Here’s what I urge you to do: Urge your state government to designate funding for census outreach and planning. Make plans to provide census information and forms to folks in your community. Encourage your coalition of local nonprofits to support the census in whatever way possible. Call your Congressional representatives and tell them to support and fund a full and fair Census process. Do it now.