By Honey Lum
As CACS past president I participated since October 2019 as a member of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Sub-committee for Census 2020 in Region 1 (includes 17 counties). The Hmong Innovating Politics (HIP) has facilitated these monthly meetings to develop a workplan for the following: outreach, marketing, communications, community collaboration, and other approaches to ensure people are counted. Based on past history, the Census identified two groups – Hmong and Pacific Islanders – as underserved populations and difficult to reach groups.

Due to COVID-19, the Census efforts were extended from July 31 to September 30, 2020. Here are examples of our Census collaboration with the Sacramento community: 1) On April 28th, CACS and five AAPI organizations participated in a Food Give-Away that was hosted by the Stockton Blvd. Partnership Association. Over 350 families benefitted from the “goody” bags filled with food and Census swags. 2) On August 24th, CACS together with JACL and other AAPI groups joined the La Familia Car Caravan. We drove through and did outreach to the economically challenged neighbors near the La Familia Center on 37th Avenue. 3) On September 10th, CACS collaborated with American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and Everyday Impacting Consultants to create and presented a Zoom workshop about Census 2020.
CACS encourages all folks to complete the Census and be counted – Sacramento needs resources to promote healthy communities. Please see this link.

Over 10.2 million California households have responded to the Census – the most of any state. California has most households respond to the Census compared to other states. Of those 10.2 million, nearly 2.4 million are located in the hardest-to-count tracts.
California’s current self-response rate, 67.2%, is above the national average of 64.9%.