census day 2020 is six months from today

Six months from today is Census Day 2020, when Ohioans will be asked to fill out the 2020 Census and make sure they, their families, and their communities are counted.  To begin preparing for Census Day, the Ohio Census Advocacy Coalition (OCAC) is releasing two documents – a Census messaging document and a statewide Census infographic – to help community-based, grassroots organizations and local Complete Count Committees ensure a complete count of all Ohioans, especially people in traditionally hard-to-count (HTC) communities.  
 
To develop these documents, over the past several months CDF-Ohio held a series of listening sessions with diverse groups of Ohioans in HTC communities.  These sessions were led by trusted local messengers and included educating individuals on the purpose of the Census, identifying barriers individuals may face in filling out the Census, and ways to overcome those barriers.  The information from these sessions was then compiled into a report by the Innovation Ohio Education Fund (IOEF) to help local organizations get out the count in their communities by effectively targeting messaging to specific HTC communities.  In addition, IOEF developed an infographic to provide information on the importance of the Census to all Ohioans.  

We hope you use these documents to start or continue strategic conversations in your community about getting out the count and making sure all Ohians get counted in 2020.  If you have any questions, please contact Ashon McKenzie at amckenzie@childrensdefense.org.  ​