Going into 2020, we knew that counting every household in the Census would be vital to ensuring immigrant communities and communities of color receive the funding and investment they need. When the pandemic hit, the stakes and challenges to completing the Census were even higher: glaring racial disparities in health and economic outcomes, escalating attacks on Black, immigrant, and all communities of color, and a worsening housing and climate crisis meant counting every household was more important than ever.

But going door-to-door safely during a pandemic and raging wildfires required new protocols, training, and protective gear. So our team dug deep and adapted our program to ensure we would protect canvasser and residents’ safety at the doors, while still meeting our goals of maximizing Census completion in low-income communities of color across the county.

We coordinated a cohort of over 15 community organizations and built a team of 75 canvassers to conduct COVID-safe door-knocking, phone-banking, and text-based outreach in multiple languages across the County. Collectively, our coalition knocked on a total of 90,000 doors, called 86,000 people, and sent over 180,000 texts. As a result, Santa Clara County reached one of the highest Census participation rates in the nation.

Now that Census 2020 is complete, we will work with our partners to make sure that the Census data we collected results in budget and policy decisions that support healthy and thriving neighborhoods for all — like new health clinics, neighborhood services, and city council district maps that reflect the demographics and priorities of our communities.