Press

WASHINGTON – The Census Counts campaign today launched Stories for Change, an expanding and downloadable series of videos, quote graphics, and infographics featuring storytellers and census advocates connecting census participation to a wide spectrum of advocacy, including racial justice, immigration, disability, labor, and faith. Each featured participant speaks directly to their own communities on the opportunity the 2020 Census presents to claim the funding, resources, and political power they deserve. The series of three videos were developed in partnership with Arab American Institute, the Arab Resource Organizing Center, The Arc, and Faith in Public Life.

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference Education Fund has announced the hire of Kiren Marshall as national communications strategist for the voting rights program.

WASHINGTON – Noting an increase in discriminatory policing practices during COVID-19, The Leadership Conference Education Fund released principles that provide actionable recommendations for law enforcement agencies across the country to better protect the health and safety of communities and officers during the pandemic and beyond. The principles, Public Safety During COVID-19 and Beyond: Recommendations for Protecting Public Health and Our Civil Rights, received endorsements from more than 100 civil rights organizations and law enforcement groups, including The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), and Carmen Best, Chief of the Seattle Police Department, Washington and Rashall Brackney, Chief of Police for Charlottesville Police Department, Virginia.

WASHINGTON – The Census Counts campaign, housed at The Leadership Conference Education Fund, led 143 other organizations in urging Congress to take action to prevent an unacceptable and unusable 2020 Census in the wake of COVID-19 by supporting significant enhancements to the methods that have been specifically designed to count historically undercounted communities. The U.S. Census Bureau needs a clear and detailed plan that includes increases in outreach so that it can execute these census operations in a way that is safe, fair, and doesn’t leave communities behind.

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund announced the selection of LaShawn Warren as executive vice president of government affairs for the organizations. She is currently senior vice president of campaigns and programs at the organizations and assumes her new role on May 11.

WASHINGTON – The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund announced the addition of operations expert Monica Woods as executive vice president and chief operating officer for the organizations.

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund, issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Census Bureau’s request to Congress to push back the statutory deadlines for reporting census data used for apportionment and redistricting. This would allow the bureau to reactivate field offices on June 1, 2020, resume data collection shortly after, and extend field data collection and self-response to October 31, 2020.

WASHINGTON – Census Day is April 1, 2020 and the Census Counts campaign partners are mobilizing digitally across the country to ensure communities the census has historically missed know that #EveryoneCounts in the 2020 Census. Households can already respond to the census online, by phone, or mail, and in response to COVID-19, the Census Counts network is working hard to make it easier than ever for people to use text banking, phone banking, and other digital tools to get their communities counted.

WASHINGTON – As the country grapples with the effects of coronavirus, it’s clear that weathering pandemics calls for careful emergency planning, assessing and protecting those most at risk, and providing lifesaving resources to people affected. That starts with accurate census data and a complete count.

WASHINGTON – Leading civil rights organizations and a California census official held a telephone press briefing today to discuss the 2020 Census, protections around census data confidentiality, and the work being done to encourage participation across the country.