Census 2020
By Roberto Valdez Jr., Latino Policy Forum
About $20 billion in federal funding comes to Illinois each year in dollars that are allocated by U.S. Census data. This critical funding supports vital programs like Medicaid, highway infrastructure, and programs that aid low-income households, rural communities, and communities of color.
If Illinoisans are undercounted during the 2020 Census, fewer resources will come to the state. Additionally, Census data will determine congressional seats and an undercount is expected to have serious political ramifications.
The Latino Policy Forum is proud to be part of the Illinois Count Me In 2020 coalition, a statewide coalition focused on outreach to hard-to-count communities, providing safe spaces for self-reporting purposes and helping educate for get-out-the-count efforts.
The Forum recently hosted about 60 community leaders at La Casa Norte to explain the launch of the 2020 Census campaign and provide valuable updates and information about efforts going on in Illinois.
Click Here to see the November 2019 Census Campaign Kickoff Presentation.
Census Facts About Latinos:
- Latinos are now 58.8 million in the U.S.
- 1 of every 6 American residents is Latino
- The 2020 Census will be the first in the nation’s history in which Latinos make up the nation’s second largest population group
- An undercount of the Latino population would mean a failed Census for the entire country
- An accurate Census count is critical for everyone’s economic, social and civic well-being
- In 2010 the undercount for children under five was about 1 million.
- About 400,000 young Latino children within this same age group were undercounted.
- The undercount rate for Latino children under the age of five was about 7.1% compared to 4.3% for non-Latino children
- 72% of the undercount occurred in states with large Latino populations and large counties (CA, TX, FL, AZ, NY)
- Illinois saw about a 3%-4% total undercount with about 11,000 from within Cook County
Source: The Invisible Ones: How Latino Children are Left Out of our Nation’s Census Count (NALEO & Child Trends Hispanic Institute)
Every state gets one shot, once a decade, to get it right!
This is our opportunity to work together to ensure a fair and accurate count in the 2020 decennial census. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we need YOUR help in doing so. Let’s work together on our shot to get the count right.
Visit the Illinois Count Me In 2020 website.
Check out the city of Chicago's Census 2020 website including the city's Hard-to-Count communities heat map.
Click here to sign onto the Forum's Strength In Numbers campaign and receive informational toolkits related to the Census every week until Census Day, April 1.
