Organizing and outreach on the 2020 Census has built a tremendous amount of social capital, policy expertise, and local area expertise in regions across the country. Importantly, these efforts have unified regions in various respects—across racial and geographic lines, and across sectors by building deeper relationships and partnerships involving experts in community, government, business, academia, and philanthropy.

Instead of disbanding these collaboratives, some places are thinking ahead and finding ways to deploy them to address pressing community needs ranging from redistricting to inclusive regional planning and equitable community development. This need is even more urgent in the wake of the movements for Black Lives, immigrant rights, and Indigenous rights.

More generally, Census has provided an opportunity to build truly inclusive tables, that include a broad spectrum of historically undercounted (or Hard To Count) communities, including communities of color, immigrants, seniors, people with disabilities, LGBT communities, and more.