Be Counted – Complete Your Census Form

April 1st is Census Day. Census data guides local decision-makers in important community planning efforts including where to build roads, hospitals, and schools. It determines how many seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as the redistricting of state legislatures, county and city councils, and voting districts. The importance of a complete and accurate count for the 2010 Census cannot be overstated. Every year, more than $400 billion in federal funds are awarded to states and communities based on census data.

Please do your part to ensure everybody sends in their Census forms. Take ten minutes and let your voice be heard. Complete your ten-question 2010 Census form. Census workers will visit households that do not return forms to take the count in person. By mailing back the form, you reduce the cost of the census by reducing the number of census workers who must go door-to-door to collect data. For more information, or assistance in completing your form, visit 2010.census.gov.

The San Francisco Foundation recognizes that historically, certain populations have been undercounted, including immigrants (both documented and undocumented), people of color, the homeless, formerly incarcerated individuals, and multiple-family, limited English-speaking, and low-income households.

The Census Bureau has identified 50 of the hardest-to-count counties in the nation. Ten of these counties are in California. Although the two counties in the Bay Area identified as hard-to-count are San Francisco and Alameda, The San Francisco Foundation believes that there are hard-to-count populations in all of the five counties we serve.

This past fall, we granted $242,500 to engage 25 community-based and faith-based organizations in an effort to ensure a complete count.

Community-based organizations are in a unique position to create images and messages on the census that would resonate with hard-to-count populations. Some grantees received an additional $2,500 to designate an artist of their choice to capture the identity and attention of the targeted population for the census work. The Foundation sees visual images as powerful tools to engage hard-to-reach populations in civic activity. Organizations receiving the additional arts funding produced posters, flyers, and other publicity materials with images and language that target a specific hard-to-count population or area. These are a few examples of our Census grantees’ and partners’ work: 

• Spanish-language poster by Grassroots Leadership Network of Marin
• Korean-language poster by Korean Community Center of the East Bay
  
• English-language fan by OCCUR
  
• English-language poster by Bananas
  
• Spanish- and English-language postcards by Urban Strategies Council