Understanding and communicating with Ohio’s Hard-to-Count communities for 2020 Census outreach efforts

As a joint effort, Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, Innovation Ohio Education Fund and the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network have put together this document using national messaging guidance, research, and feedback gathered from discussions with leaders, community members, and direct service providers in Ohio’s hard-to-count (HTC) communities across the state.

By combining national messaging guidance from the U.S. Census Bureau and national nonprofits and our own messaging research, we believe the following document provides the best advice and guidance for how to motivate Ohioans to participate in the 2020 Census. 

The Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio (CDF) facilitated design-thinking workshops in communities across the state to gain insight into the barriers communities faced to participating in the Census and how we can work to overcome these barriers. 

The Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network (WPPN) is a coalition of more than 30 organizations working collaboratively to advocate for public policies that build economic opportunity for women and strengthen families. Considering the large stake women and their families have in the Census and the key role women will play in ensuring a complete count, WPPN conducted listening sessions with their coalition partners to identify the particular concerns and barriers women of all backgrounds in the state expressed.