Census and Redistricting

In partnership with the New York Community Trust, Engage New York played a key role in launching and coordinating the New York State Census Equity Fund, which brought together thirty-seven local, regional, and national foundations to mobilize $3.6 million to ensure a fair and full count of New Yorkers statewide in the 2020 census. The Fund launched the #EveryNewYorkerDeservesToBeCounted campaign to show the unity built by the Fund throughout the funding community; a first for New York.

Chosen as a priority area for the network in 2018, this has been the largest body of work we have worked on to date. It has included convening, tracking statewide redistricting, internal and external communications, pooled fund grantmaking, and evaluation. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, New York State’s efforts only resulted in losing 1 Congressional seat and our population grew by over 4%. To learn more about the Fund’s work and Engage New York’s role to support a complete and accurate Census count, click here.

In 2021, the New York State Census Equity Fund continued to work together to support community engagement in the Congressional redistricting process. In 2022, the Fund is working to support nonprofits working to address redistricting at the State and local levels. An evaluation report of the Fund’s efforts is expected to be released in March 2023.

In 2022, with support from a grant from the national collaborative, Engage New York is convening funders, nonprofits, experts, and other stakeholders invested in ensuring we remain the infrastructure that was built to support a complete and accurate census remains intact to yield greater success in 2030.