New Bedford’s Action Plan for the 2020 Census

The New Bedford Complete Count Committee will build a 2020 Census outreach campaign designed to raise Census awareness among all residents and increase self-response in the Decennial Census.  Using the knowledge, experience and leadership of community leaders, residents and municipal liaisons in tandem with the US Census Bureau data resources, the NBCCC will use all available means to saturate the City with 2020 Census messaging for the purpose of getting a full count of New Bedford’s residents.

The current political environment, recent data hacks, the hostility present toward immigrants, the fact that the Census will take place in the middle of presidential campaigns along with the general distrust in government pose huge challenges for a complete and accurate count in the 2020 Census.

These difficulties compound the constant challenge of reaching young children and hard to count populations.

NBCCC will engage all levels of the community so we can count every resident in New Bedford, only once and in the right place. Three subcommittees have been established; Community Engagement, Media and Marketing and Direct Services

The Committee will dovetail the work of the subcommittees:

• Continue to identify and partner with organizations and businesses that work directly with the hard to count populations in New Bedford
• Organize our community through a cohort of council members, to facilitate the goals of the NBCCC.  Build and cultivate a network of trusted messengers to meet people where they are and engage them in ways most accepted by local communities
• Develop and implement an outreach strategy designed to quell fears, motivate self-response, raise awareness and answer questions related to all Census activities
• Develop marketing materials targeted to specific audiences based on geography, ethnicity, age range and audience
• Share resources designed to educate both stakeholders and the population .
• Promote free and accessible internet access and assistance at local community centers through education and outreach to reach populations with limited or no access to the internet or limited English proficiency

We will cultivate existing relationships and build new ones in the community. We will rely on trusted voices and leverage our relationships to get accurate information out and motivate the are hard-to-count populations to complete the Census in 2020.

Because young children are missed for unique reasons, the NBCCC will incorporate strategic outreach that addresses the undercount of young children throughout the campaign.

The emphasis on internet response as the preferred method means that we must promote easily accessible community locations with multi-lingual assistance and free computer resources with online access. This will help to ensure that all community members have an opportunity to respond to the census online thus increasing self-response.

Hard to-count and vulnerable populations require us to use conventional outreach methods such as posting flyers, signs, billboards and other traditional print methods as well as attending multi-cultural community events to ensure that everyone is reached in their community by local, trusted messengers.