Image of Ellen LaPointe

To Ensure Accurate Local Census Count, $1 Million In Grant Funding Available To Nonprofits

Request for Proposals open until May 31, 2019

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – To ensure that all Bay Area residents are counted accurately and completely in the 2020 census, approximately $1 million in grants will be awarded to local nonprofits for census education and outreach efforts, a collaborative group of funding organizations announced this week.

The Bay Area Census Funders Collaborative – a partnership of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the East Bay Community Foundation, Northern California Grantmakers, and numerous other funders – has been created to help ensure a fair and complete 2020 census count.

“Here’s why we need an accurate count: So that Californians get the right level of federal funding for public programs and the right amount of representation in Congress,” said Nicole Taylor, president and CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. “We’re giving grants to Bay Area nonprofits to make sure everyone – including hard-to-count populations like children, the elderly, immigrants and homeless people – is counted in census 2020.”

There are some unprecedented challenges facing the 2020 census, however, including significant underfunding of the Census Bureau, the proposed addition of question about respondents’ citizenship, and the new online census questionnaire.

“When census information is not accurate, the rights of the most vulnerable are threatened and equality is undermined. We are delighted to partner with leaders in the philanthropic community who understand how critical it is that each and every one of us is counted in the 2020 Census,” said President and CEO Ellen LaPointe of Northern California Grantmakers.

To help meet the census’ challenges, the funders collaborative published its first Request for Proposals on Monday, April 15. At least $1 million in grant funding will be awarded to nonprofit groups for outreach and education efforts focused on the 2020 census. Grant applications must be submitted by Friday, May 31, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.

“The importance of the census count is often under-estimated,” said President and CEO James Head of the East Bay Community Foundation. “The East Bay, in particular, is home to a significant number of hard-to-count communities. Through this collaboration, we expect to support a range of innovative strategies to encourage full participation and ensure an accurate count, because this impacts not just the state’s influence but the power of local communities.”

The grants will be awarded to nonprofit organizations working to engage and promote the participation of hard-to-count communities in the nine-county Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma counties).

The collaborative will host six information sessions throughout the region to review the RFP, eligibility, application process, selection criteria, and grant timeline.

To learn more about the funding collaborative and information session dates, times and locations, visit ncg.org/2020-census.

Media contacts:

Sue McAllister, VP, marketing and communications, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
650.450.5513 or sjmcallister@siliconvalleycf.org

Kayla Ballard, communications manager, Northern California Grantmakers
415.872.1019 or kballard@ncg.org

Stacey Manley, VP, communications, East Bay Community Foundation
510.208.0827 or smanley@eastbaycf.org

About Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Silicon Valley Community Foundation advances innovative philanthropic solutions to challenging problems. We engage donors and corporations from Silicon Valley, across the country and around the globe to make our region and world better for all. Our passion for helping people and organizations achieve their philanthropic dreams has created a global philanthropic enterprise committed to the belief that possibilities start here. Learn more at siliconvalleycf.org.

About East Bay Community Foundation
The East Bay Community Foundation is committed to advancing a Just East Bay. We partner with donors, social movements, and the community to eliminate structural barriers, advance racial equity, and transform political, social, and economic outcomes for all who call the East Bay home. Learn more at ebcf.org.

About Northern California Grantmakers
Northern California Grantmakers is an association of great people doing great work. We bring together foundations, nonprofit organizations, government, and business to tackle our region’s most pressing social issues. We pool resources, share information, and learn from each other, making our collective impact far greater than if we were going it alone. Learn more at ncg.org.

Retrieved from https://ncg.org/news/ensure-accurate-local-census-count-1-million-grant-funding-available-nonprofits.

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One-Year Countdown to 2020 Census Begins

County’s Complete Count Committee to help create localized promotions

San Rafael, CA – Now that April has arrived, the yearlong countdown to the 2020 U.S. Census has begun in Marin County and all over the United States. Scheduled for April 1, 2020, the census is being labeled as the “first digital census” whereby households will have the option of responding online, by mail, or by phone.

The County of Marin’s Community Development Agency (CDA) – in partnership with the City of San Rafael and Canal Alliance – created MarinCensus2020.org and established a Complete Count Committee comprised of a broad spectrum of residents to help create localized messaging that resonates at the grassroots level. About 50 committee members met in March and started to create targeted subcommittees. They will work with state, regional, and local community organizations to coordinate census promotions in different languages to increase census awareness and participation.

The U.S. Constitution requires that every American is counted every 10 years. The census determines how many representatives each state gets in Congress and how more than $400 billion in federal financial support will be distributed. Local government use the results to plan and provide for resident needs.

Undercounting could limit funding and voter representation. In 1990, an estimated 4 million Californians were not counted, leading to the loss of a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and a shortfall of about $2 billion in federal funding. The state received an estimated $115 billion in federal funding in fiscal 2016-17 tied to the state’s population count. A recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California showed that an estimated 1.6 million residents are at risk of not being included in the 2020 count.

Outreach is starting early to help alleviate concerns about the census. Across the country, two-thirds of respondents to a preliminary survey about the census said they would be extremely likely or very likely to fill out a census form, but five barriers were identified that might prevent people from participating:

  • concerns about data privacy and confidentiality;
  • fear of repercussions;
  • distrust in all levels of government;
  • feeling that it doesn’t matter to be counted; and
  • belief that filling out the census form might not benefit the participant.

Another possible barrier is a White House proposal to add a question about citizenship to the census. A Supreme Court ruling on the topic is expected this summer; meanwhile, census personnel are preparing two versions of the survey.

A preliminary survey identified hard-to-count populations, including racial and ethnic minorities, people who speak languages other than English, those with low internet proficiency, young people who move frequently or have plans to move soon, rural residents, and populations at risk of low response.

Some Marin populations might be reluctant to be counted for those reasons. Others might be willing but have less-than-optimal access to broadband technology and would be considered difficult to reach for such an online survey. Staff has evaluated data from the 2010 census and pinpointed several neighborhoods where residents were least likely to respond or hard for census takers to count. Those areas are mostly in San Rafael, Marin City, and West Marin.

Nearly every household will receive an invitation to participate in the census from either a postal worker or a census worker, but it’s expected that 95 percent of residents will receive an invitation by mail. The U.S. Postal Service will stagger the delivery of the invitations over several days to spread out the number of users responding online. In the end, the federal government expects less than 1 percent of households will be counted in person by a census official, mostly in remote areas.

Questions? Most are answered on MarinCensus2020.org and www.census.gov.

Note: Press release retrieved from https://www.marincounty.org/main/county-press-releases/press-releases/2019/cda-census-040419.

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