The 2020 Census Office report for January 2020 includes updates regarding: The Census education summit, marketing, and the Illinois Department of Human Services' (IDHS) internal and external census strategy and coordination.
Census EDU Summit
On December 4th, Census EDU, a half-day summit, was hosted at Malcolm X College in Chicago by the Office of Governor JB Pritzker, the Illinois 2020 Census Office, and the Illinois State Board of Education, in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau. The summit targeted educators and administrators to equip educators and child service providers from across the state with tools to engage children birth to 5-years-old and the young and mobile, both hard-to-count populations, in the census. Leadership from City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, and the Elgin School District, among others, presented on panels and provided tips, lesson plans, and tool kits. Materials and video from the day are available at https://www.isbe.net/census.
Marketing
IDHS released a Request for Proposals for Marketing and Public Relations services in support of the 2020 Census on December 12th. The selected Vendor will assist IDHS in delivery of the message to the Hard to Count (HTC) populations who are least likely to respond to the census, to activate, educate, and motivate them to complete the 2020 Census questionnaire. This includes a statewide marketing strategy with ad buys and digital media. The deadline for proposals is December 31st at 2pm CST.
IDHS has partnered with Community Connect Labs, which provides a text messaging tool to support census outreach and engagement, employment recruitment, and a question and answer chat box. Community Connect is a national nonprofit that specializes in community engagement through text messaging. They have been working on census outreach for over two years and work closely with other states, such as California and Minnesota, to develop a text messaging tool that allows people to ask any question on the census in multiple languages. Community Connect Labs' tool also includes information on Enumerator recruitment (i.e. jobs with the U.S. Census Bureau). Once people ask a question, it also sends reminders and allows people to complete pledge cards. Community Connect Labs is the only vendor that the federal U.S. Census Bureau has contracted with to provide the suite of tools that IDHS will use for outreach to Illinois' residents.
IDHS is in the process of purchasing promotional and print material which will be available in the early part of the year.
Coordination
Internal IDHS: The IDHS Internal Census 2020 Workgroup was recently created on December 12th to ensure census outreach to all staff and, in turn, to all customers and to the community that IDHS supports. The workgroup meets weekly. Each of IDHS' five divisions -- Family and Community Services, Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Rehabilitation Services and Substance Use Prevention and Recovery -- has appointed a census 2020 liaison who works with their division to create a strategy for outreach. IDHS's overall strategy will be to support each of the divisions with resources to meet their needs, which may include training, census outreach materials, contacts, and maps to network with community agencies and census regional intermediaries.
External/Sister Agencies: The Census Office met with sister agencies to coordinate census education and outreach and to leverage the State's assets. These meetings will take place monthly throughout the 2020 census to ensure that all agencies have the support needed to be successful in the 2020 census. Each agency will provide at least three different forms of outreach and education. For example, currently, the Illinois Lotto shares the Census Office logo on its advertisements throughout the state.
City of Chicago & Cook County: The Census Office meets monthly with staff from the City of Chicago and Cook County to coordinate efforts and resources for the 2020 census. All three organizations have committed to having their grantees coordinate efforts once all the grantees are announced.
Secretary of State & U.S. Census Bureau: The Census Office meets bi-weekly with staff from the Secretary of State's Office (SOS) which houses the Illinois Complete Count Commission, and with representatives from the U.S. Census Bureau Chicago Region Office to coordinate efforts and resources for the 2020 census. To date, the Census Office has participated in various census forums and events with both organizations to provide complete and accurate census information throughout the state.
Regional Intermediaries
28 out of 31 of the regional intermediaries (RIs) have finalized budgets and executed agreements with the Census Office and IDHS. The remaining two RIs are expected to have their budgets and agreements finalized by the first week of January. Once agreements are finalized, RIs are permitted to request a 2-month advance payment from their grant award to assist in jumpstarting the census outreach and education.
Outline of budget, expenditure, and distribution of funding
| Region and Name of Regional Intermediary |
Award Amount |
| CENTRAL |
|
| Illinois Primary Health Care Association |
$500,000 |
| Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies |
$100,000 |
| CHICAGO REGION |
|
| Community Assistance Programs |
$1,000,000 |
| Habilitative Systems Inc $ |
$2,350,000 |
| Illinois Action for Children |
$1,000,000 |
| Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights |
$2,000,000 |
| Pilsen Wellness Center |
$135,000 |
| Puerto Rican Cultural Center |
$215,000 |
| Rincon Family Services |
$1,000,000 |
| University of Illinois at Chicago |
$200,000 |
| YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago |
$1,000,000 |
| COLLAR REGION |
|
| Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies |
$200,000 |
| Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights |
$750,000 |
| Metropolitan Mayors Caucus |
$300,000 |
| Reaching Across Illinois Library Systems |
$750,000 |
| United Way of Metropolitan Chicago |
$200,000 |
| NORTH CENTRAL REGION |
|
| Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies |
$150,000 |
| Tri-County Regional Planning |
$500,000 |
| NORTHEAST CENTRAL REGION |
|
| Champaign Urbana Public Health District |
$695,000 |
| NORTHERN REGION |
|
| Region 1 Planning Council |
$920,000 |
| NORTHWEST REGION |
|
| Illinois Public Health Association |
$700,000 |
| SOUTHEAST CENTRAL REGION |
|
| Clay County Health Department |
$350,000 |
| Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies |
$50,000 |
| SOUTHERN REGION |
|
| Illinois Public Health Association |
$475,000 |
| SOUTHWEST CENTRAL REGION |
|
| Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies |
$330,000 |
| Teens Against Killing Everywhere |
$330,000 |
| SUBURBAN REGION |
|
| Illinois Action for Children |
$750,000 |
| Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies |
$750,000 |
| Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights |
$1,000,000 |
| Metropolitan Mayors Caucus |
$1,000,000 |
| WESTERN REGION |
|
| Western Illinois Regional Council |
$300,000 |
| Total |
$20,000,000 |
| Census Data, Research, GIS Visualization, and Regional Intermediary Coordination |
Amount |
| University of Illinois at Chicago |
$896,837 |
| Total |
$896,837 |
| Appropriation Amount |
Obligated Amount |
Amount Paid |
Unobligated Amount |
| $29,000,000 |
$20,896,837 |
$1,560,293 |
$8,103,163 |
