144 Organizations to Congress: 2020 Census COVID-19 Plans Can’t Keep Communities Undercounted for Yet Another Decade
 

The Methods Used to Count Undercounted Communities are at Risk and the Census Bureau Needs a Plan
 

WASHINGTON – The Census Counts campaign, housed at The Leadership Conference Education Fund, led 143 other organizations in urging Congress to take action to prevent an inaccurate 2020 Census in the wake of COVID-19 by supporting significant enhancements to the methods that have been specifically designed to count historically undercounted communities. The U.S. Census Bureau needs a clear and detailed plan that includes increases in outreach so that it can execute these census operations in a way that is safe, fair, and doesn’t leave communities behind.
 

“The people and communities getting hit the hardest by job loss and illness right now are the same ones the census has missed for decades. As the Census Bureau moves to keep people safe by extending the 2020 Census timeline, we have to ensure historically undercounted communities aren’t, once again, being denied a chance to receive the funding, resources, and political power they deserve,” said Beth Lynk, Census Counts campaign director, The Leadership Conference Education Fund. “The Census Bureau needs to step up its plan to increase outreach to communities that have been historically undercounted even before we were facing a national public health crisis. Getting counted in the 2020 Census is a way to strengthen our communities and everyone deserves that chance.”
 

Without significant enhancements to support the following operations, rural, low income and remote communities, people of color, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and other populations more likely to be missed could be denied their fair share of representation and resources:

• Door-to-door counting of households who have not yet responded to the census – the most complex, labor-intensive census operation;
• Hand-delivering census packets in rural and remote communities, on American Indian reservations, in areas recovering from natural disasters, in much of Alaska, and in Puerto Rico;
• Counting people experiencing homelessness; and
• Facilitating outreach to households with limited internet access.

In a letter sent to the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the groups recommended the following enhancements to the 2020 Census plan and operations:

• Send at least two additional census mailings during the extended self-response period from May through early August;
• Update the 2020 Census Integrated Communications Campaign, including extending the advertising program during Nonresponse Follow-up (NRFU), adding new languages, adjustments in COVID-19 messaging, and non-response targeting, among other improvements;
• Expand staffing of the Census Questionnaire Assistance operation for all languages;
• Update guidance for stakeholders supporting the 2020 Census with regard to phone and SMS-related issues; 
• Reimagine the Mobile Questionnaire Assistance operation in response to COVID-19 with an expanded framework that includes both “mobile” assistance and fixed locations, as well as a larger staff;
• Schedule operations for counting people experiencing homelessness;
• Provide key data to stakeholders to support effective outreach strategies and continue their “get-out-the-count” efforts; and
• Ensure a robust and accurate post-enumeration survey operation.

The letter is available here.