The framers of the Constitution had a mandate for Congress: count the number of people residing in the country every ten years. Though the decennial census has been in place since the founding of the country, Illinois officials and community organizations are especially pushing census participation in 2020 as the state has billions of federal funding dollars—and perhaps even a seat in Congress—at stake.

Since summer 2019, City Bureau reporting fellows have interviewed dozens of residents to understand the stakes of the 2020 census and the behind-the-scenes challenges of getting people to participate. And since January 2019, City Bureau Documenters have attended county & city census meetings to bring you up-to-date information on outreach efforts.

 
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Uncounted and Under Five: Experts Fear Census Will Miss Latinx Children

By Ayana Cochran and Sarah Conway

March 12, 2020 |
With City Bureau

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The 2020 Census, Chicago’s Outreach Plan and Why It Matters

By Alexis Kwan, Irene Romulo, Morgan Lee and Sarah Conway

February 26, 2020 |
With City Bureau

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Complete Count Commission Meeting Notes

By City Bureau Documenters

January 2019 through February 2020 |
With Documenters.org

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White? Asian? African? chicagoans with middle eastern and north african roots feel erased by the census

By Alexis Kwan

November 13, 2019 |
With Chicago Reader


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cHICAGO GROUPS PREPARING AFRICAN IMMIGRANTS FOR THE CENSUS

By Irene Romulo and Morgan Lee

October 15, 2019 |
With WBEZ

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A PROPER HEADCOUNT: The people convincing immigrants to take the 2020 census

By City Bureau

October 1, 2019 |
With South Side Weekly

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Podcast: Census 2020 with City Bureau

By Alexis Kwan and Sarah Conway

August 20, 2019 |
With Chicago in Arabic


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Preguntas y respuestas del Censo 2020

By Irene Romulo and Morgan Lee

August 29, 2019 |
With La Villita, Chicago

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What does the 2020 census mean to immigrant communities in Chicago?

By City Bureau

August 8, 2019 |
With City Bureau

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what you can do to prevent a census undercount in illinois

By Kim Bellware

July 1, 2019 |
With City Bureau