Yolo’s 2020 Census outreach grantees announced

Round 1 Grants Announced In its first round of funding, YCF made grants of up to $10,000 to support nonprofit organizations to develop and implement strategies to maximize 2020 Census participation from Yolo County’s hardest to count populations. These include low-income households, households whose residents are not proficient in English, non-family households, households that have moved recently, and households without broadband access. The grantees selected include: • RISE, Inc.: Esparto-based RISE will use the grant to support a bilingual staff member to spend 20 hours per week doing census education and outreach to farmworkers on Capay Valley farms, as well as the surrounding community. This outreach specialist will visit farms (drawing on RISE’s strong relationships with both farmworkers and farm owners), as well as grocery stores, churches, existing RISE events, and other community gathering spots. •Yolo Food Bank: Thanks to this grant, the Yolo Food Bank will send a member of its staff to weekly and monthly food distribution spots in Yolo County’s hardest-to-count census tracts, reaching low-income households. This staff person will do census education and outreach, and then bring a tablet to the food distribution locations so attendees can fill out the census on the spot. • Yolo County Children’s Alliance: The Yolo County Children’s Alliance, through its West Sacramento Family Resource Center, will promote the census in West Sacramento apartments, RV parks, laundromats, faith-based organizations, schools, and other places that hard-to- count communities may congregate; host Census education workshops as part of its existing “Super Saturday” tax preparation events; and go door-to-door to engage local community members. It will also host a questionnaire assistance center (a location where people can come for help in filling out the census) at its West Sacramento site. Tico Zendejas, executive director of RISE, said, “Yolo County is a special place and we want to work together to bring in the necessary resources that should be allocated for our residents. An accurate Census Count will help us towards accomplishing that goal.” Round 2 Application Now Open In its second round of funding, YCF is seeking to fund organizations that work with a wide range of hard-to-county communities throughout Yolo County. (Details available at http://www.yolocf.org/grants.) While the first round of funding focused on Yolo County’s largest hard-to-count groups, in this round, YCF is looking to reach a much wider swath of the local population. All nonprofits that work with populations that are likely to be undercounted by the census – which includes most underserved and disenfranchised communities – are encouraged to apply. A complete count will not only maximize the resources and influence available to Yolo County for the next ten years, it will also likely help nonprofits working locally to make the case for support going forward. YCF is interested in funding projects that raise awareness of why and how to fill out the census, as well as efforts to support people to actually fill it out. Examples include marketing campaigns, educational workshops, door-to-door outreach, phone banking, Questionnaire Assistance Centers or QACs (setting up a computer where people can fill out the census and helping them as necessary), mobile QACs (bringing laptops or tablets out into the community, for instance to events, so people can fill out the census), Questionnaire Assistance Kiosks (like QACs, but unstaffed – for instance, setting up a computer in a community center lobby), and more. The foundation is happy to see such activities integrated into nonprofit’s existing efforts – e.g., setting up a QAC at an event they are already hosting, incorporating census messaging into an existing newsletter, including materials about the census with other products they are distributing, etc. Background on the 2020 Census Since 1790, the United States has taken a count of the population every decade, as required by the U.S. Constitution. The census counts every person living in the U.S.—regardless of citizenship or immigration status. The federal government uses Census data to determine how much federal funding to send to states and local governments around the U.S., as well as how many seats each state receives in Congress. In the 2010 Census, 77 percent of Yolo County residents were counted; we seek to increase that figure in 2020. More information is available at http://www.yolocf.org/grants. About the Yolo Community Foundation The Yolo Community Foundation inspires giving, supports philanthropists, and serves the nonprofit community in Yolo County. The organization offers donor-advised funds and other philanthropic vehicles, donates to local nonprofits through the Buck Education Grant, fosters volunteerism through the Yolo Youth Scholarship Awards and annual Philanthropy Day program, and supports local giving via its involvement in the Big Day of Giving. YCF currently has 55 philanthropic funds valued at $4.5 million and is an affiliate of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.]]>