Census Matters
I’ve been writing grants for almost a decade, making the case for funding a wide range of programs and services designed to meet the needs of communities. But good grant writing is about more than putting a compelling story on the page. It starts with understanding the community an organization serves: Who lives there? What are their needs? Where are the gaps in services? And what evidence tells us that a proposed program is likely to make a difference?
One of the most important resources I rely on to answer those questions is also one of the most basic: the U.S. Census.
The Census is so ingrained in our national life that it can be easy to take it for granted. But from my perspective as a grant writer and advocate, it is one of the most valuable sources of information we have about our communities.
I use Census data to understand who lives in the communities my clients serve, identify disparities and unmet needs, and demonstrate why their services are necessary. It helps turn a broad statement about community need (and strength) into something more specific and measurable.
That information is useful far beyond grant proposals. Nonprofits use community-level data to inform program design, identify gaps in existing services, understand whether programs are reaching the people who need them, and evaluate their effectiveness. It can help organizations avoid duplicating existing efforts, identify opportunities for innovation, and make thoughtful decisions about where limited resources can have the greatest impact.
That is why I was deeply concerned to learn about the proposed changes to the 2030 Census currently under consideration.
Among other changes, the proposal would alter the rules for determining who is counted as a U.S. resident. Many people who live in the United States—including international students, people working here on visas, and recognized refugees and asylees—could be excluded from the population count.
The proposal would also prohibit the inclusion of race and ethnicity questions in the decennial census. That information is essential to understanding our communities, measuring disparities, and assessing whether conditions are improving over time. Removing it from the Census would make it harder to understand who is being served, who may be left out, and where resources are needed.
From my perspective as someone who works with nonprofits, these are not abstract concerns about data collection.
When the underlying data is incomplete, our understanding of a community is incomplete.
The strongest grant proposals don't simply describe a problem. They demonstrate an understanding of the people experiencing it and connect that understanding to a thoughtful, evidence-based response. Reliable community data is an important part of making that connection.
A fair and accurate Census is therefore not an abstract concern for me, or for the organizations I work with. It is a fundamental tool for understanding our communities, designing effective programs, securing resources to address their needs, and measuring whether we're making a difference.
If we change the way we count people, we change the picture we have of our communities. And if that picture is incomplete or inaccurate, the decisions we make based on it will be, too.
