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FAIR REPRESENTATION & REDISTRICTING
FOR NEW YORK STATE GRANTMAKERS
The 2020 Census Data has been released and map drawing is heating up - meaning redistricting is in high gear. This newsletter seeks to capture the most relevant news, resources, and information to help foundation leaders engage in redistricting efforts at the local and state level.

When the New York State Census Equity Fund announced the creation of a pooled fund to work on a complete count for census 2020, the Fund always included redistricting as part of its work plan. Counting people is important to ensure New York receives its fair share of federal resources to support vital community programs and infrastructure. At the same time, ensuring all New Yorkers have fair representation is equally as important.

Just like census, redistricting is part of the democratic process to ensure that communities are fairly represented. If you want to learn more about how your foundation can engage in this work or if you have grantees looking for resources, networks, and connections, please contact us.
NYSCEF Makes Grants to Support Redistricting
The New York State Census Equity Fund has been focused on supporting local and statewide organizations engaged diverse communities in the redistricting process. The Fund is supporting organizations that have prioritized the following projects:

  • Public Education & Mobilization
  • Advocacy
  • Documenting, Assessing, and Suggesting Revisions to the State’s Redistricting Commission’s Procedures for 2031

To date the Fund has supported the following organizations to advance these goals:

  1. CUNY Mapping Center - to develop NYS specific maps to support community engagement. Click here to see the NYS maps that were made possible with support from the NYSCEF.
  2. New York Civic Engagement Table - to provide education and training for Long Island constituents
  3. NY League of Women Voters - to work throughout regions of the State to engage community members in the IRC meetings over the summer and throughout the fall, and provide general education about redistricting
  4. MinkWon Center for Community Action - to support community education and outreach
  5. Yemeni American Merchant Association - to support community education and outreach throughout the State
  6. New York Law School - to support participation in local redistricting across the State

As part of the Fund's objectives, the Committee works closely with the national funders collaborative to access information, resources, and tools to support the funders and the nonprofit community's work in the census and redistricting. Through these efforts, the following organizations will also be receiving grants to support redistricting in New York State:

  1. New York Immigration Coalition
  2. Common Cause New York
  3. Make the Road New York
Update from the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission
The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) will begin its 14 series of public hearings this week. For more detailed information about how to testify and the locations for each meeting, visit www.nyirc.gov/meetings.

  • October 20 - Buffalo
  • October 21 - Rochester
  • October 25 - Southern Tier (Binghamton)
  • October 26 - Syracuse
  • October 27 - North Country (New Paltz)
  • November 1 - Albany
  • November 8 - White Plains
  • November 9 - Bronx
  • November 10 - New York County
  • November 15 - Richmond County
  • November 16 - Kings County
  • November 17 - Queens County
  • November 22 - Nassau County
  • November 23 - Suffolk County

To learn more about the Commission and its work, click here.
Upcoming Event on Redistricting Reform
in New York
The 2021 NY Redistricting Reform Constitutional Amendment:
What You Need to Know

Monday, October 18, 2021
4:00-5:00 pm
Presented by New York Law School

Join the New York Law School for a presentation on the November ballot issue that will make further changes to the state's redistricting process. The expert panel includes the following speakers:

Susan Lerner, Common Cause NY
Blair Horner, NYPIRG
Jennifer Wilson, NYS League of Women Voters
Jeff Wife, New York Law School

To learn more about the NY Constitutional Amendment click here.
Resources for State Partners
Mapping out New York's Redistricting Process, This recording introduces the work of CUNY's Mapping Service Director, Steve Romalewski. This presentation provides an analysis of the IRC's initial proposed lines, as well as highlights the Redistricting & You tool his team developed to help New Yorkers engage in the redistricting process.

Redistricting & You: New York State Maps, CUNY Mapping Service has developed an interactive map that will allow New Yorkers to compare the proposed IRC "proposed" districting lines with current lines. Remember, the IRC has published 2 versions of the map - one is labeled "Names" and the other is labeled "Letters." Click here to see the draft plans from the IRC.

Cornell University’s Program on Applied Demographics (PAD) has posted detailed information with regional charts and a county map showing the state’s population changes from 2010-2020 by county, region, race, and ethnicity. Click here to access the data set.

The Empire Center has developed a sortable web tool of population changes for New York’s counties, cities, towns, and villages. Click here to access the information.

RedistrictingOnline.Org
RedistrictingOnline.Org is a nonpartisan educational resource for redistricting. This online resource is meant to educate, inform, and provide a platform to help people navigate redistricting. Click here to access this resource.

New York State Public Mapping Project is Underway
New York Law School’s N.Y. Census & Redistricting Institute is organizing a statewide Public Mapping Project where student and public interest organization teams are being organized to use free online software and data (along with training) to draw model maps that can be submitted to the state. Teams have been organized at New York Law School, SUNY Stony Brook, Columbia, SUNY New Paltz, Marist, Fordham Law School, Albany Law School, SUNY Buffalo Law School, and Syracuse University. To participate, please visit https://app.districtbuilder.org/o/nyls.

To access the recording of the District Builder training click here.
Redistricting News
UPDATES FROM NATIONAL PARTNERS

The Democracy Funders Collaborative's Census Subgroup has released its state-level reports. These reports provide an overview of efforts made to promote the 2020 census within and across the United States, DC, and Puerto Rico. FCI has also shared a cross-state analysis of these efforts in the PowerPoint presentation.

Redistricting Hub has updated its website and now has new trainings, resources, news, and the state population change charts.

American Statistical Association releases Task Force Report on 2020 Census Analysis and Replicability Report
REDISTRICTING TOOLS TO HELP FUNDERS
Redistricting Report Card
In response to the 2021 redistricting cycle, the Princeton Gerrymandering Project developed this report card as a tool to help the public identify gerrymandered maps. The Redistricting Report Card uses a powerful and unique set of analytics to grade each state’s newly-drawn maps during the redistricting process. Information and new more maps are being added as they are received.


CUNY Redistricting & You Interactive Map
This tool developed by the Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center of the City University of NY (CUNY) will help various stakeholders understand the local implications of redrawing legislative district lines across the country.

The map has been updated to show population counts from the 2020 census, highlighting which congressional and state legislative districts will need to grow and shrink to meet the goal of population equality during redistricting.


New York State Demographic Information
Cornell University’s Program on Applied Demographics (PAD) has posted detailed information with regional charts and a county map showing the state’s population changes from 2010-2020 by county, region, race, and ethnicity.


Princeton Gerrymandering Project
This nonpartisan tool will help localities understand how to conduct nonpartisan gerrymandering at the State level. The Project bridges "the gap between mathematics and the law to achieve fair representation through redistricting reform." The mapping tool provides information on state-by-state reforms and census-related timeline delay alerts.


Census Bureau's Historical Interactive Apportionment Map

The new online mapping tool from the Census Bureau displays 10 decades of appointment and population data.


Redistricting in New York after the 2020 census, Ballotpedia


New York Redistricting Amendment
S 8833 is a proposed amendment to the New York constitution that would make changes to the redistricting reforms approved by voters in 2014 by changing deadlines and the thresholds needed to approve maps, as well as certain criteria for drawing maps.

The Brennan Center has an overview of what is in the amendment and what it means for the redistricting process. The amendment will be on the ballot in November and it is important that voters understand the amendment.


All about Redistricting
This is a comprehensive resource on redistricting rules, processes, and reform across all fifty states created by Justin Levitt at Loyola Law School that includes Redistricting 101 materials in six languages.


Redistricting Data Hub
The nonpartisan Redistricting Data Hub was founded by experts with backgrounds in pioneering redistricting legal cases, the establishment of independent redistricting commissions, and related ballot initiatives in different states. The goal of the Redistricting Data Hub is to provide individuals, civic organizations, and good government groups the data, tools, and knowledge to participate effectively in redistricting processes by learning how to define their communities, provide meaningful public input, recognize gerrymandering, and advocate for fair and legal maps.
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This email was generated by Engage New York in support of the NYS Census Equity Fund; a pooled fund focused on supporting a fair and accurate census count as well as fair representation in the redistricting process.