Funders’ Committee Census Initiative (FCCI) Denounces the Termination of Census Advisory Committees

Ending the national committees cuts expert community voices in the Census and harms 2030 planning

LaShanda Jackson, Executive Director of the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP) and Funders’ Committee Action Fund (FCAF), issued the following statement on the recent decision by the Department of Commerce to terminate Census Advisory Committees recently:

“Funders and philanthropy-serving organizations are deeply disappointed and concerned by the Department of Commerce’s termination of three critical advisory committees that provided critical expert and community-centric voice to the Census Bureau. The representatives of the 2030 Census Advisory Committee, the Census Scientific Advisory Committee, and the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations allowed those with practical, community expertise to advise the vital work of the Census Bureau and work towards a census that ensures all communities are counted fairly and accurately.

The work of these committees is not yet fulfilled, as the Department rationalized, and philanthropy remains committed to ensuring a fair and accurate count in the census and that community experts can provide input through these important, relationship channels, as has been a longstanding, nonpartisan practice.

The committees’ terminations especially disheartened us because philanthropy worked diligently with coalition partners to ensure community representation on these committees, including David Martinez III, vice chair of the Funders’ Committee Census Initiative (FCCI) and Director at Vitalyst Health Foundation in Arizona.

Arizona is already being used as one of six Census Test sites for 2030 Census work, evaluating enhancements for the 2030 Census in rural, urban, and tribal lands with historically undercounted and hard-to-count populations. Eliminating census committees misses a great opportunity for these communities to participate fairly and accurately in the census and its critical planning work.

Much work has yet to be completed with the census decennial census and ongoing Census surveys, and funders are ready to resume this important work.”

For funders wanting to step up and do this work, FCCP recommends:

• Check in on your census and civic participation partners, recognizing that organizations working directly in communities face the most significant harm from decisions like the Commerce Department’s.
• Move multi-year and unrestricted resources now to build and sustain the infrastructure of these civic participation partners for the 2030 Census, their already important work in the community, and their own rapid response efforts.
• Offer support “beyond the check” like convening and capacity-building support, matching partners with other funders, providing data, amplifying their communications, advocating alongside them, and restructuring your grant programs in ways that meet social needs and prioritize community voices.
• Begin or continue your local 2030 Census engagement, using the FCCI Blueprint as a guide. Note: FCCI will release a mid-decade mark philanthropy toolkit later this year to utilize as a resource.
• If you are a local, regional or State funder and would like to be more involved in FCCI’s 2030 Census planning and connected to other philanthropy organizations engaged in this work across the country, please reach out to Anita Banerji, Senior Director, Strategy & External Relations, at abanerji@funderscommittee.org.
• And, please be sure to register for FCCP’s April 1^st Virtual Census Day Program.

FCCI is a standing FCCP working group, chaired by Sol Marie Alfonso Jones of the New York Community Trust and vice-chaired by David Martinez III of Vitalyst Health.