Jocelyn Bissonnette

Deputy Director, Census Funder Collaborative

Gary Bass

Co-Chair, Census Funder Collaborative

“The United States Census provides the foundation for many of the resources we depend on in our communities. The Census Funder Collaborative is a fiscally sponsored project and Ford grantee that works with funders and nonprofits to ensure the Census is fair and accurate through policy, research, local outreach, and coalition-building. We have to act now to be ready for the 2030 Census, as there are already decisions being made that will ultimately impact the fairness and accuracy of the next count.

In the 2020 Census, the net undercount of young children ages 0-4 was 5.46%. That’s a million kids who were not accurately counted or represented in official Census data. There are two critical points: More than half of young children are kids of color, and the undercount of young children has been getting worse over the last few decades, even as the undercount of adults has become more accurate. We know that upcoming generations are more and more diverse, and we know that young children of color—along with other groups like immigrants, those with low income, or people who live in rural areas—are being missed at higher rates than their peers.

The Census informs a distribution of more than $2 trillion annually in federal funds to states; these support local school districts, service delivery, public and philanthropic research, and regional policy. If kids are invisible in the data for a decade, they won’t receive these resources and decisions about their futures will miss the mark. In the last Census cycle, the Census Funder Collaborative built a strong infrastructure of trusted voices from national advocates, census experts, lawyers, funders, and community leaders to raise awareness about the importance of the Census and ensure that it counts these populations more accurately. More than ever, local families and communities need the Census to be accurate.”

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