Los Angeles CSU Census 2020 is a group of UCLA undergraduate students seeking to mobilize and educate college students who are considered hard-to-count population by the U.S. Census Bureau due to various underlying factors. Factors such as dwelling predicaments, language barriers, and mixed citizenship status often create confusion which prevents many college students from participating in the Census. Partnered with the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, in the course "Representation on the 2020 Census: Hard-to-Count Populations" we have initiated a social media strategy to promote the participation of college students in L.A. County, and we strive to reach beyond Los Angeles.

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For our outreach project, we chose to work with the Van Nuys area of the San Fernando Valley, focusing on youth census education and engagement. Census tracts in the Van Nuys area are considered hard to count due to crowded units, multi-unit structures, foreign-born populations, and limited English-speaking households. Aiming to increase census counts in the region, we visited high schools in the Van Nuys area. We educated classes about the importance of the census and encouraged them to participate. During our visits, we provided these high schoolers with a presentation and flyers so that they could take this information home to their parents or guardians. We recognize that information about the census rarely reaches non-English speaking and foreign-born communities, and we hope that our high school outreach campaign helps to increase census participation.

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Our goal was to make sure that students at Manuel Dominguez High School in Compton are informed about the importance of the census. We presented to about 300 students who we hope will share the information that we gave on to their family, friends, and others. Compton tends to be hard to count the population because of the lack of knowledge or the language barrier. High school community outreach allowed us to fill in the gaps for students who either had no idea about what the census is or about how crucial the count is.

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With the 2020 Census transitioning to online formats, the discussion around census accessibility is more vital than ever. People with Disabilities are one of the most undercounted populations and are frequently left out of conversations, which disproportionately negatively impacts federal funding opportunities that derive from census data.According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, People with Disabilities are the world's largest minority population--making up roughly 15% of the population or 1 billion people. However, People with Disabilities continue to lack equal access to basic human rights such as quality of life, housing, healthcare, education, transportation, internet access, etc. due to a lack of institutional support. While the fight for access is ongoing, accurate census data reflecting a large number of People with Disabilities in the United States will lead to greater representation and eventually increase funding for services and resources for People with Disabilities.

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We are a group of UCLA students aiming to increase participation of the census among the LGBTQ community and allies. There are various fears and myths that alienate members of the LGBTQ community from completing the form, and we believe that this was an opportunity to overcome these barriers. Being counted is a way to make sure that everyone's voice is recognized, and it's vital in ensuring that individuals are represented.One main reason why the LGBTQ community is historically a hard-to-count population is due to the fact that the United States Census has never allowed gender expression for LGBTQ folks in the binary sex question. This lack of data makes it challenging to accurately track the needs of the community and discourages members of the LGBTQ community from responding since they do not feel the data will matter to them. As a historically marginalized and ostracized community, it is highly likely that the LGBTQ population does not feel like the Census adequately represents them since none of the questions permit gender identity expression.

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A group of individuals who are attempting to make a difference in their community through outreach and education with a specific focus on the census. The census is one of the most important events for distributing public funding and our essential to the future of our political voice. Every year LA county is one the hardest to count populations in the United States. Beyond that college students are a largely untapped hard to count population. With that in mind we made it our mission to try and help reach out and educate our fellow students on the importance of the census. Within our campus community we tried to specifically target groups that may have a harder time understanding or are less likely to fill out the census. These groups were specifically STEM majors, Transfer students, and students from various ethnic backgrounds. These groups face unique challenges as they may not be as well versed in the process of the census and why it is important. Our goal was that through outreach in forms of presentation and leafleting we would be able to spread the importance of the Census to the UCLA community and make a positive difference in the form of census response.

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Our group's target population is high school students who have at least one foreign-born parent and thus identify as second-generation. As children of immigrants or immigrants ourselves, we know first-hand that as trusted messengers in our household, we are uniquely positioned to engage in discussions about the Census with our loved ones.This generally extends to second-generation immigrants, who tend to explain political information to their parents and families. As such, we want to equip youth populations with accurate, applicable information about the 2020 Census, so they can be an informed trusted messenger for their communities. For the next ten years, the data collected from the 2020 Census will have political and financial implications for underrepresented communities. Although this project centered around advocacy efforts for 2020, we hope that the materials and information live beyond this course and will be applicable for future generations.

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AAPIs are one of the fastest-growing and prominent racial groups in the United States. However, despite this trend, Asian-Americans are typically overlooked in political decisions from the local to federal level. Why is this so? The glossing over of Asian-Americans in the United States political system is due to the following: Asian-Americans, as a whole, typically contain low rates of participation in regards to political processes. This is attributed to a variety of factors which include cultural values, mistrust of the government, lack of information regarding citizen political participation, and varying levels of English proficiency. Keeping this information in mind, the members of "Asian Americans: #CountMeIn" have a collective vision: to integrate and answer to the needs and concerns of Asian-Americans in LA County by motivating the AAPI (Asian-American Pacific Islander) community to participate in the Census. As members of different AAPI racial groups, we contain a connection in regards to the struggles and needs of the Asian-American community - and hope to further tap into these connections through engaging in grass-root movements.

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