Census 2020: Young Children and the Census Undercount, a conversation with EC Funders
The Decennial Census happens every ten years and it is the only time we count everyone–adults, children and babies, citizens, immigrants, and visitors. Census data informs the allocation of federal, state, and local dollars, and states, localities, and businesses use census data for community planning, including where to open new stores and distribute school funding.
Yet, in 2010, one in five children were missed because their family did not return the form, and four in five children lived in families that returned the form but didn’t include the young child on it. An under-count of young children in the Census is critical to the child’s and family’s access to resources such as housing, jobs, equitable education, and health care. Early childhood funders also face obstacles in advocating for children and families when Census data is unreliable and misrepresents demographic data.
On June 5, 2019, ECFC hosted a conversation with Deborah Stein, Network Director, Partnership for America’s Children, or funders to explore the factors contributing to young children’s under-count in the Census and actionable strategies that funders can undertake to ensure that every child is counted when the next Census takes place on April 1, 2020. Featuring Kiki Jamieson, Ph.D., President, The Fund for New Jersey, and Florencia Gutierrez, Senior Research Associate – KIDS COUNT, Annie E. Casey Foundation, the webinar explored ways funders are and can be elevating this issue in preparation for the 2020 census.
June 5th Webinar Archives
Webinar recording (audio and video) [YouTube]
Slide Deck (including supplemental data slides) [PPT]
Count All Kids video – produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation as a tool for helping advocates (and anyone interested in seeing America’s kids thrive) explain the importance of counting young children in the Census. [YouTube]
Speaker/Funder Census Initiatives
Fund for New Jersey
Advocates for Children of New Jersey
Annie E. Casey Foundation Blog – Each Decade We Have a Chance to Get It Right
2018 Kids Count Data Book, special focus: Census 2020
Related ECFC Features:
ECFC Census 2020 & The Young Child Undercount Resources
5 Things EC Funders Can Do
Examples of Funder Actions to Count All Kids
Census Resources:
- Count All Kids, Census 2020 – Partnership for America’s Children, Sign up for
updates, tools, resources and a list of Census advocates in your area.
[Facebook] [Twitter – #CountAllKids] - The Undercount of Young Children, United States Census Bureau
- National Census Advocacy Campaign (censuscounts.org)
- Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Census 2020 hub
organization - Complete Count Committees
[U.S. Census Bureau] [National Council of State Legislatures]
Resources for Funders:
- Why an accurate count matters to philanthropy – United Philanthropy Forum
- Funders Census Initiative 2020 (FCI) – Launched by the Funders Committee
for Civic Participation. The FCI Funders Toolkit includes information on
contributing public comments related to the citizenship question, key
milestones to know about, fact sheets, funder strategies, and a
recommended plan of action. - Funder Q&A with Gary Bass, The Bauman Foundation, Leader of the
Democracy Funders Collaborative Census Subgroup, CYF
Funders Roundtable feature. PPT