How Foundations Can Help Groups Find New Ways to Boost Census Participation

To the Editor:

As the spread of Covid-19 is expected to reach peak levels in cities across the country in the next two weeks, funders must not forget our on-the-ground partners altering their civic-participation plans to engage hard-to-count communities for the U.S. census. The stakes for our democracy could not be any higher with the ongoing decennial census and the presidential election only months away.

Latinos have been historically one of the nation’s largest undercounted groups. Now with the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic, the census is already seeing low self-respond rates among Latinos.

We have heard similar concerns expressed directly by nonprofit partners. After Hispanics in Philanthropy’s announcement of Civic Participation Covid-19 Grants on April 1, we heard from several partners, including Mi Familia Vota Education Fund in Arizona, Jolt in Houston, and Latino Community Foundation of Georgia, about the challenges of engaging Latinos because of social restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic, including events and at large gatherings.

As funders, let us take this opportunity and shift our grant-making model to one that provides the flexibility and support to address the current crisis and prepare for future challenges.

We must remain committed to engaging communities beyond 2020. It is dependent on us to have the foresight not to just focus on this pandemic but also to build the infrastructure to tackle future challenges to ensure the voices of all Americans are not hindered or diluted.

Ana Marie Argilagos
Chief Executive Officer
Hispanics in Philanthropy
Oakland, Calif.