To access the webinar, click the image below.
We are pleased to announce the availability of the Maine Philanthropy Center's first educational webinar about the 2020 census.
Advocating for a fair and accurate census count is a critical equity strategy. Historically, the census has missed or under-counted disproportionate numbers of racial minorities, immigrants, young children, and economically disadvantaged individuals, leading to inequality in political power and less access to public funding and private investment for these communities.
For these reasons, Maine's philanthropy network leaders have indicated that the census is an advocacy-related issue that they'd like to learn more about. Thus, the MPC’s Advocacy Committee has decided to make the 2020 census a key focus of the network's education and advocacy efforts over the next year.
We recently launched our Census 2020 educational journey with a free webinar for funders who wish to explore census-related advocacy. The webinar is now available for view. It provides a high-level overview of the census and its importance, discusses the difficulties that impede the collection of accurate census data, identifies what can be done to overcome some of those difficulties, and provides examples of what funders in states other than Maine are doing to help support an accurate census.
Featured presenters include: Marcia Avner, co-chair of the Funders Committee for Civic Participation's Funders Census Initiative; Alexie Torres-Fleming, executive director of the Access Strategies Fund; and Jennifer Gray, director of advocacy at the Maine Philanthropy Center.
Image credit: U.S. Census Bureau