Dear Census Allies,
Thank you for your support for the New York State Census Equity Fund (NYSCEF). I am writing at this time with a quick overview of our accomplishments, and an update on recent
census developments.
To date, the Fund has disbursed a total of $2,813,825 in four rounds of grants.
• Our first round encompassed grants ranging from $35,000 to $100,000 to regional and
statewide entities for census-related technical support and research. Included among
them were: Buffalo and Niagara-based Partnership for the Public Good, Asian American
Federation, New York Immigration Coalition, New York Civic Engagement Table, Health
and Welfare Council of Long Island, and the Rockefeller Institute for Government at
SUNY Albany.
• In December 2019, a second round of 62 grants totaling $1,434,000 was disbursed to
libraries and nonprofits, supporting community-based get-out-the-count efforts in
urban, rural, and suburban areas across the state.
• In February 2020, we partnered with the Community Foundation of Elmira Corning and Finger Lakes to do a third round of “rapid response” grants, providing small but quick injections of money to organizations working in areas beyond New York City that were lagging behind in census responses.
It was in the midst of that third round of grants that the full force of the Coronavirus hit
our State, and we found ourselves at the epicenter of the pandemic. The Census Bureau
suspended its operations, and nonprofit organizations put plans for census outreach on hold while tending to the pandemic’s impact. As the rate of infections, hospitalizations, and fatalities began to subside, we started receiving updates from our grantees, letting us know the variety of ways in which they were adapting and persevering despite the challenges of the pandemic.
In April, the Census Bureau released a revised census calendar that established October
31 as the end of census operations, and set August 11 as the targeted ‘deadline’ for households to self-respond (it’s a soft deadline—census forms can still be submitted by mail or online after August 11). Accordingly, we extended the end date for most of our grants (originally mid-June) to September.
At the same time, the Census Bureau asked that Congress: 1) extend the statutory
deadline for submitting apportionment data, the data used to determine how many
Congressional Representatives each state is allotted, from December 31, 2020 to April 30, 2021; and 2) extend the statutory deadline for transmitting redistricting data to states and localities from March 31, 2021 to July 31, 2021.The House of Representatives approved the new dates, but the Senate has yet to take action.
NYSCEF is now in the process of disbursing a fourth and final round of grants, made
possible by the extension of the census calendar. All things considered, our census response rates could be much worse. As of early August, the self-response rate for New York State was just under 59 percent, compared to an overall national rate of 63 percent. New York City’s rate is considerably lower, with a city-wide average of 53 percent. These rates obscure significant disparities across neighborhoods, cities, towns and regions, which is why our fourth round is modest (approximately $500,000 for 24 grants) but very strategic—targeting specific cities and in some cases specific neighborhoods or ethnic constituencies.
Significant developments in the last three weeks have made the grant extensions and
additional strategic grants even more important.
The Census Bureau announced an internal decision to move up the previously
announced end-date for census operations from October 31 to September 30. Unfortunately, cutting short census field operations is bound to have a disproportionate effect on traditionally undercounted populations. Second, a White House “directive” was publicly released instructing the Census Bureau to use government administrative records whenever feasible to extrapolate citizens-only population counts from Census 2020 data, to be used for apportionment and redistricting. A handful of states have legislation approved or in process to use citizen-only population counts for post-census redistricting. (New York is not one of them; in fact, Albany recently passed legislation to ensure the use of population totals for apportionment and redistricting.) This directive seems to be a continuation of the Administration’s previous failed attempt to minimize immigrant populations by including a citizenship question on the census form. Legal actions by various government entities and advocacy groups are in the works to contest it, but the directive still stands as of this writing.
Many of us began meeting in the summer of 2017 to consider how philanthropy might play a role in a fair and accurate census count in New York City and State. Little did we know then just how challenging that straightforward mission would turn out to be. On the other hand, so many aspects of our nation’s society and democracy are being put to the test—why should the census be any different? Together with our allies in philanthropy, government, and the nonprofit sectors, the New York State Census Equity Fund will continue responding to these challenges and to the fulfillment of our mission.
Sincerely,
Patricia Swann
Sr. Program Officer, New York Community Trust
Chair, New York State Census Equity Fund Steering Committee
