Our democracy depends on our collective engagement and our commitment to ensuring a fair and accurate decennial census year in and year out. During the 2020 Census, the Census Counts campaign, housed at The Leadership Conference Education Fund and co-chaired at the time by NALEO and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, brought together community-based organizations across a wide spectrum of advocacy and outreach efforts to ensure that historically undercounted communities and population groups were enumerated in the 2020 Census.
Amid the challenges of the 2020 Census, we created a movement — and with the lessons from 2020 fresh in our minds, we know what is needed to ensure a successful 2030 Census. By investing our time now, we can lay a strong foundation for those who will work to get our communities counted in 2030. A fair and accurate census in 2030 will be determined by actions we take today.
For these reasons, and inspired by the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation’s “A Blueprint for Philanthropic census Engagement,” The Education Fund and Census Counts developed the “Roadmap to the 2030 Census.” This resource includes 2030 Census milestones and concrete examples of ways community-based and advocacy organizations, state and local governments, and other partners can engage in census work throughout the decade.
Underlying all the steps below is the collaborative policy and advocacy work that needs to be done by all stakeholders throughout the decade to ensure adequate funding for the Census Bureau, advocacy for updated questionnaires (including revised race/ethnicity questions and sexual orientation and gender identity — or SOGI — questions), and input on operational changes and any legislative recommendations resulting from the experiences and implications of the 2020 Census.
Please note that the timeline is based on the rollout of activities by the Census Bureau for the 2020 Census and may change depending on funding, lessons learned, or operational modifications. This roadmap was launched in April 2022 and updated in the spring of 2023. We will continue to update the information annually (or more frequently, if needed) as the Census Bureau finalizes the 2030 Census design, releases an operational plan, and announces plans for field tests and then preparations for the census.
