The Census is designed to count every resident in the United States, and it does so every ten years. The data collected is used to distribute over a trillion dollars in federal funds to states and localities for programs residents rely on, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Head Start, and services such as hospitals, roads, and parks.

CommunityConnect Labs CensusOutreach solutions were recently highlighted in Twilio's Customer Stories. We are proud to be powered by Twilio in our SMS-based outreach to count hard-to-reach communities in the Census, ensuring fair representation and millions of dollars in public funding for the next 10 years.

Here are some of our ongoing learnings from our government and nonprofit partners on how to transition to digital outreach in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS)'s has put in place effective marketing strategies to help promote their Census outreach tools.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is using contact lists to do outbound text messaging to remind people to complete their Census.

What to do when in-person outreach and assistance is limited

The state of Minnesota will be using CommunityConnect Lab’s Community Motivator to send personalized text messages to voter registration lists, encouraging millions of people to participate. ‍‍

With 2020 Census invitations beginning to hit mailboxes on March 12, we can expect an increase in the amount of mis/disinformation circulating. Helping drive home the importance of the Census and its impacts will help encourage people to continue to participate, but actively and effectively combating mis/disinformation is also important. 

Get Ready: Census Letters Hit Mailboxes Nationwide Starting March 12th – ‍With fewer than 20 days until Census Day on April 1, we are counting down with a timeline of outreach recommendations for governments, community-based organizations, and individuals.

With the 2020 Census only days away, there’s a lot of information available for individuals and organizations doing the critical work of effectively reaching hard to count communities. Here’s a list of some of those sites to get you started.