Findings and Recommendations from Census 2020 Partners and Funders
A report commissioned by the Democracy Funders Census Subgroup, a collaborative of about a dozen national and regional foundations that came together in 2015 to develop and fund a plan to support efforts to achieve a fair and accurate 2020 Census, with a focus especially on communities historically undercounted and most at risk of being undercounted in 2020. These communities include Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans, immigrants, low-income households, people with disabilities, young children under the age of 5, people who have limited English proficiency, and LGBTQ+ individuals.
The report is a compilation of findings and offers over 100 recommendations from funders, philanthropy serving organizations, community-based organizations and other stakeholders, including complete count committees from across the country, who worked with the Democracy Funders Census Subgroup and the Census Counts Campaign housed at the Leadership Conference Education Fund.
In 2021, the Democracy Funders Census Subgroup commissioned Karen K. Narasaki, the principal author of this report, and Tim Lim, President of Lim Consulting Strategies, the principal author of the section on Communications, to prepare a comprehensive set of findings about the conduct of the 2020 Census and recommendations for Census 2030 and the American Community Survey based on those findings. The analysis includes very specific observations, as well as suggestions for broad, and in some cases, very significant shifts in the way the Bureau has approached its mission over the past three censuses. The contributors to this report hope that the U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, Congress, and the Administration seriously consider these findings and lessons learned as planning begins for Census 2030 and the Bureau continues to refine the related American Community Survey.
