In many ways, diversity is about our ability to see and be seen, to hear and be heard—apart from the homogenous mass and overwhelming din of the dominant culture, in all our many distinct flavors. For the social sector, this becomes acutely relevant each Census year. “The count” is uniquely important not just for recognizing our diversity on a statistical or intellectual level, but for translating that into much-needed services and tangible resources. Nonprofits know from experience just how much is riding on our ability to be honest in quantifying who we are in order to meet the basic needs of our communities.
Nonprofits play a critical role in mobilizing campaigns for an accurate count, as do the many foundations that support them in these efforts. Last month, a New America Media news feature highlighted the importance of nonprofits’ participation in the Census when it raised concerns about the disadvantage faced by neighborhoods that lack an active local nonprofit presence. Drawing its example from two San Francisco neighborhoods with high concentrations of low-income households, significant numbers of immigrant residents, and historically low response rates, the article observes that even when there are nearby nonprofits, they are often already so strapped meeting the community’s needs that they have little additional capacity to take on Census related efforts—thus perpetuating the undercount and ensuing shortage of available resources.
Such challenges are compounded by efforts like that of Sen. David Vitter (Louisiana-R) to exclude illegal immigrants from the count. Although defeated in the Senate, this failed legislative tactic underscores the political implications of the battle over “who really counts.” At the same time, some activists like Rev. Miguel Rivera of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders are asking undocumented Latinos to boycott the Census in order to focus visibility on the issue of immigration reform. It’s not just big money that’s at stake—it’s also conflicting ideologies.
One group that’s committed to pulling out a win from Census 2010 is the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, with its Queer the Census campaign. Like undocumented residents, whose participation in our economy and social fabric could be rendered invisible by efforts to limit their role in the Census, LGBT people are nowhere recognized as such on today’s Census forms, creating yet another “blind spot.”
As nonprofits work to boost Census participation and remedy the myopia that prevents us from truly “seeing” one another, will we also consider how we might better include those unseen faces and unheard voices in our everyday planning, decision making, leadership, and governance?
