Census 2020

Many don't realize the direct relationship between the Census and Congressional representation, Federal funding for essential community resources, such as schools, hospitals, police, infrastructure (roads, bridges).

The 2020 Census will determine - for the next decade - how many seats New York State will have in the US House of Representatives, and the amount of federal government resources that New York State and its localities will receive. New York is at risk of losing two Congressional seats and countless dollars in Federal funding if we have an undercount in the 2020 Census.

How is New York State doing? How about New Rochelle? You can look at our response rate anytime and check progress. Click here to access the response rate map:

Need instructions for using the Response Rate map? Check out this quick video:

Outreach in Hard-to-Count Areas

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we can not longer conduct outreach in person. Our in person Census Hubs are not viable in these conditions. We had been planning to use our community based hubs as trusted sources for information for our residents on the importance of the Census. As this is no longer viable, we are looking to creative solutions that don't require face-to-face contact.

One way is to conduct outreach through District Leaders and/or through tools such as phone banks to reach people in the hard-to-count areas. It is possible to see how Census tracts and Election District boundaries overlap. Census tracts are significantly larger, and they do not map directly. To take a look, go to the Westchester County GIS map. This video will walk you through the process of viewing the Census tract and Election District layers at the same time:

Census 2020 Resources

The official Census 2020 website -- https://2020census.gov/ -- is equipped with materials for outreach and education. Here are a few resources that we have curated, a starter-kit for working with your community. These are direct links to the resources on the Census website.

Census Resource Starter Kit
This is a starter set of materials that you can have ready to give out when engaging community organizations or institutions as Census partners. These are also materials that can be printed and given out at neighborhood events.

The following materials are designed to share with partner organizations or groups:

Community Outreach Toolkit: A quickstart guide to tailoring Census outreach efforts for the people you serve
Why Your Company Should become a 2020 Census Official Partner - this is appropriate for businesses, nonprofits, community organizations
Questions and Answers for Stakeholders Supporting the 2020 Census - this is appropriate for organizations, groups and individuals who want to help support Census efforts and provides tips in question/answer format

The following educational/informational materials are designed to share with individuals:

Census 101: What You Need to Know (available in multiple languages here)
2020 Census at a Glance - this includes the basics and a timeline for the Census
The 2020 Census is accessible for everyone - describes the different ways people can respond to the Census
2020 Census: Safety and Security - this is a fact sheet for people who have concerns about the security and privacy of their data (available in multiple languages here)
Sample Census 2020 Form - note that a head of household completes this form for every person (any age) living in the location most of the time, or are located at the address on April 1.

Click on this link to download a zip file containing this entire set of documents. And remember, this is just a set to get you started with doing outreach. There is a lot more on the Census 2020 website!

Links to Resource Libraries:

Here are several direct links to areas of the Census Bureau site - check out these links and more as there is a wealth of available resources for people of all ages. All materials are available in Spanish, and some materials are available in many languages.

Outreach Materials Library - these are materials for partners who want to support Census efforts
Public Service Announcements and Fact Sheets - please note that the resources can be filtered by language, type of resource (video, audio, print) and audience. Note that there are materials available, particularly via download in multiple languages.
Census 2020 in Spanish - this is the full Census 2020 website in Spanish.
Census 2020 Classroom Resources - check out this site for educational resources for K-12, pre-K and ELL/Adult ESL students, including the "Everyone Counts!" song!

Additional Resources:

If you see other resources that should be featured, please let us know (email: info@indivisiblenewrochelle.org)

Hard to Count Communities

Where are the Hard to Count areas in your community? You can visit the Census office's interactive map and search any community in the US to view statistics about each different Census tract: https://www.census.gov/roam You can search the interactive map by address, city or county - enter criteria into the search box. The Census map also provides detailed demographic information about each tract, such as the Low Response score, the number of individuals and households, the number of non-English speaking residents and much more.

The Hard-to-Count Map - https://www.censushardtocountmaps2020.us/ is another mapping resource created by the CUNY Center for Urban Research. Enter locale information such as address, city, county and easily see where the Hard-to-Count areas are near you.

This pdf provides a view of Hard-to-Count tracts in Westchester County that can be downloaded.

Tools for Groups

There are many ways for Indivisible members to be involved with local Census efforts. Census education complements some of the voter engagement work we are already doing. This slideshow provides a Census overview:

Participating in the Census is a patriotic act

Indivisible New Rochelle members talk about why getting active in the Census is a patriotic act! And why it's so important for 2020.