Community Engagement Spotlights

 

It takes intentional coordination of diverse outreach strategies to ensure all stakeholders in SELA contribute to the 2020 Census campaign. Each audience contributes to response rates differently but complimentary. From community-based organizations to city staff to elected offices to resident groups, the SELA region received a wide variety of contributions that have pushed the count forward. This diversity captures direct resident engagement to media visibility to public official support. Collectively, these efforts have augmented collective power in SELA.

 

Check out the community highlights below. Why do you think this combination of outreach tactics have been important for the SELA region?

 

 

Cross-Stakeholder Convenings and Collaborations

SELA Collaborative, Office of Assembly Anthony Rendon and Senator Lena Gonzalez

Elected Roundtable Jan 2020

  • Bringing SELA elected leaders together to discuss the significance of the Census for SELA communities and how to reach our hard-to-count communities

 

SELA Collaborative, City of South Gate, and NALEO

Census Train-the-Trainer Series, Feb 2020

  • Convening across LA county’s Latino elected officials in the SELA region to learn about Census and build capacity to help community get counted

 

SELA Collaborative and SELA Caravans, Jun 2020

  • Unprecedented 10 city and neighborhood coordinated SELA Census caravans to uplift communities during the pandemic and remind them of the region’s commitment to ensure every person gets counted.

 

SELA Resident Tailored Engagement

SELA Collaborative’s Census Charlas

  • Direct SELA community feedback on the concerns around Census 2020 that set the foundation for all regional Census conversations

 

COFEM LogoCOFEM’s on the ground engagement

  • Socially-distant and effective community engagement through Leche-ton (food giveaways with Census flyers), Census van moving through low-responding HTC tracts, and mobilizing resident leaders to ensure every person gets counted.

 

 

Southeast Community Development Corporation’s efforts to make Census geographically visible

  • Census resource distribution from laptops to address the digital divide; banners, safety kids, and lawns signs to promote Census visibility in SELA neighborhoods, and the mobile RV to make Census completion accessible throughout the SELA region

 

Human Services Association’s range of reach and audiences

  • Distributing Census importance continuously to their client base – from childcare to senior services, ensuring phone and text banking is consistent, and canvassing in SELA neighborhoods to get out the Count

 

AltaMed’s Census Messaging embedded in healthcare services during a pandemic

  • 5-touchpoint model to ensure Census messaging is integrated with core healthcare services
  • Diverse outreach tactics to reach SELA residents from phone banking, text banking, Census Kiosks, to building city capacity to help community members get counted

 

Community-Specific Engagement

Latino Equality Alliance’s audience-tailored messaging

SELA LGBTQ+ Townhall, Apr 2020

  • Weaving the significance of Census to SELA’s LGBTQ+ community with important community issues such as health care and environmental justice and programming that resonates with audience (drag performance, poetry, etc.)

 

SELA Collaborative, IDEAL CDC, and LA Voice engagement of Faith-based communities

  • Tailoring Census significance to faith-based communities in southeast LA, speaking on the intersection of faith and Census resources – all in Spanish

 

 

Visibility of SELA beyond SELA

Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA’s region-specific systemic insights on Census 2020+

  • Bringing regional data to SELA stakeholders on Living and Working in SELA and Census perceptions, pre-COVID and during COVID conditions

 

We Count LA’s Media Campaigns highlight SELA’s work

  • Elevating SELA Census outreach activities from SELA Car Caravan and on-the-ground community outreach through Univision, Spectrum1, Que Buena Radio, and NBC4.

 

Alta Med Health Services

Offered Census Training Video that showed how the number of touchpoint could drive a successful Census completion.