SparkPoint and Skyline College partnered with United Way Bay Area to do outreach for the 2020 Census and we have received the official BAY AREA COUNTS 2020 report. People and communities throughout the Bay Area will have better access to services, more resources and better political representation because of these efforts.
THE INVESTMENT: Over $27.5M in investments and millions of dollars of in-kind resources were allocated to hundreds of organizations across the Bay Area.
THE REGIONAL RESULT: The Bay Area Counts 2020 network has made millions of outreach impressions in 68 languages and these impressions made a significant impact. Despite all of the challenges that we have faced this year, the Bay Area’s self-response rate (SRR) and rate of increase compared to 2010 Census consistently ranked higher than both the state and national averages. The Bay Area region’s SRR is over 75% (3.5% higher than the 2010 Census)! And of the top 10 highest responding counties in the State, 6 of them are in the Bay Area.
THE LOCAL RESULT: Although the Bay Area has done well as a whole, San Mateo County is ranked 1st in the state with a Self Response Rate of 78.6% (5.4% higher than 2010). Without a doubt, these local results are a product of the many meaningful and personal interactions that SparkPoint, Skyline College and other local partners have had with community members on a regular basis. More individuals from “hard-to-count”(underrepresented) populations were reached thanks to our email blasts, check-in calls, flyer distribution and the incorporation of census outreach into the Dream Center, Library, financial coaching and food distribution programs.
A special thanks to Bradley Cleveland from the San Mateo Labor Council and Kevin You from the Pilipino Bayanihan Resource Center, as well as our very own Rika Yonemura-Fabian, Pamela Ortiz, Lori Lisowski, Jessica Silver-Sharp and Chad Thompson for leading and supporting these efforts.
Written by Chad Thompson
Photo by Jessica Sliver-Sharp
