Model and Strategy
The Census Outreach Project goal is to educate, motivate, and activate massive numbers of highly motivated volunteers to ensure a fair and accurate U.S. Census 2020 count for California. Our target is to get 575,000 low-income people, immigrants and other hard-to-reach populations counted accurately in California, who otherwise would not be seen.
An undercount would impact the following three areas:
Funding: Each person not counted in the census is a loss of nearly $20K for the State of California.
Representation: California could lose one or more seats in the House of Representatives if its population is undercounted.
Redistricting: Our state and local redistricting is informed by our Census count; an undercount, especially of vulnerable populations, will result in the disenfranchising of certain minority districts.
This is a once in a decade chance to make sure that California gets its fair share of federal funding for important social programs and public infrastructure, those things that make California the place where we all want to live.
Impact
The ultimate measure of success is an increased count in California. Our aim is to get low-income, minority, or other hard-to-reach people counted. This is significant because each person not counted is a loss of nearly $20K for the State of California. In the event of a significant undercount, the State of California may also lose a House seat in Congress. Our state and local redistricting may also be less accurate and representative of their communities.
Our anticipated impacts:
1. Ensure 575,000 low-income, minority, or other hard-to-reach people in California are counted who otherwise would not have been counted through activities outlined in strategies outlined above.
2. This would result in California getting its fair share of federal dollars – an estimated $11.5 billion federal dollars for programs such as health, affordable housing, and early childhood education.
3. This would ensure that California will maintain or gain a house seat in Congress.
4. This would ensure that California state and local districts will be accurate and representative
In addition, we see this as an unparalleled opportunity to build nonprofit capacity, engage a broader group of volunteers, new and emerging civic organizations and build bridges between between these groups, creating new civic opportunities for engagement.
Leadership
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Perla Ni
Executive Director
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Jacob Model
VP of Research
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Stephanie Kim
Director, Government & Nonprofit Programs