CPCA Leads 2020 Census Work
The 2020 Census is rapidly approaching and ensuring an accurate count of California residents is essential for a number of reasons. Health centers are poised to play a critical role in supporting Census preparation, education, and engagement of their communities. California’s community health centers serve and have access to nearly 7 million Californians and are trusted sources of information, which uniquely positions them to be trusted messengers to hard-to-count populations about the importance of being counted in the 2020 Census.
Because of our unique position, in September, the California Primary Care Association was designated the health sector lead by the California Complete Count 2020 to conduct Census 2020 statewide work. CPCA was awarded grant funding to work with our regional consortia partners to provide education, regional outreach and trainings, technical assistance and questionnaire assistance to community health center (CHCs) patients and communities statewide.
To further leverage health centers’ position as safe spaces in their communities, CHCs across the state will work with local partners and coalitions to incorporate census outreach activities into existing health center community outreach events and daily operations. These include community health fairs, placing posters and signage in waiting rooms and break rooms, distributing flyers to patients, sharing information on social media platforms and websites, running informative Census 2020 videos dubbed in multiple languages in health center lobbies, and working with local media to engage partners into building and weaving coverage.
Given the size of our network and the number of people health centers are able to reach, CPCA and consortia working together on this important joint project have the potential for widespread impact on health center patients and other key stakeholders throughout the state. Many of the most important decisions made by government are based on the information that is provided by the decennial census and its interim community survey, and CPCA recognizes the critical role it plays in guaranteeing equal representation for all. Contact your County to get involved in your local Complete Count Committee, or for more information, please visit californiacensus.org.