Census Legacies Toolkit
Talking Points
What Census Legacies will do
- Builds on the foundation of Census coalitions to create stronger and more equitable communities.
- Ensures that regional solutions are built from the bottom-up, with cross-sector collaborations that honor the expertise of community members and community-serving organizations.
What Census outreach has shown (or, Why Census Legacies?)
- Trusted Messengers are essential – Trust in government low, varies by partisanship
- “Community input” needs to be all-inclusive – Communities of color, immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ communities, people with disabilities, more
- Benefits of co-designed solutions, with community organizations as equal partners – Recognition of community expertise by philanthropy, government agencies, other decision makers
Key principles of Census Legacies
- Commitment to inclusion of all historically undercounted and underrepresented communities
- Commitment to equity
- Commitment to systems change, with cross-sector collaboration and recognition of community expertise
Key partners in Census Legacies
Some combination of the following (will vary depending on how the work has proceeded on Census and beyond)
- Nonprofit service providers
- Civic engagement/powerbuilding groups
- Funders
- Government agencies
- Legislative committees
- Academic partners
- Other evaluation and research partners
- COVID-19 recovery coalitions