The 2020 Census is New Mexico’s opportunity for a big shift. For people of color and other minority populations, the census at the top of the decade is a chance for increased visibility, more federal funding, and a better resourced future. 

The census is a big deal in New Mexico. About 40 percent of the federal funding our state receives for Medicaid, schools, senior services, hospitals, and other social programs is based on information gathered during the census—so getting an accurate population count is crucial.

It is estimated that each New Mexico resident counted will bring in about $37,000 in federal funding over the next 10 years. The inverse is also true: every person who does not participate or goes uncounted in the census means a loss of nearly $40,000. If there’s just a 2% undercount this year—what we had during the 2000 Census—New Mexico would stand to lose $1.2 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years.

New Mexico has been deemed a particularly “hard-to-count” state by the US Census Bureau—in fact, it’s the hardest to count state in the continental US. That is, in part, because of the large percentage of the population living rurally and on reservations. It also has to due with a high concentration of minority and underrepresented populations (immigrant and otherwise) that have been reluctant to engage with the federal government.

The stakes are high. Fortunately, though, there are over 100 groups across New Mexico mobilizing to ensure a complete count. Cathryn McGill, the executive director of the NM Black Leadership Council, is one of those leaders. She and her team are taking a grassroots and events-based community outreach approach to activate the Black community in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. But it’s an uphill battle, she says. “We’re trying to get people passionate about filling out a survey, which is a really daunting task.” 

Besides fighting a lack of awareness and a touch of apathy, there’s also a question of trust. As McGill says, there are many in the Black community “who have a great sense of distrust in the US [federal government], which has a lot of priors in the area of disenfranchising whole races of people.” Successfully convincing people that the census is important and not going to be used against them has a multi-million, or perhaps billion dollar consequence for our state. 

“We’re letting people know that the census is a way of carrying on the work of their ancestors and supporting their community,” McGill says. By taking the survey and being counted, Black New Mexicans can not only become a more visible part of the population, they can ensure that their community gets the funding they deserve. The 2020 Census asks households 10 simple questions, one of which is about your race. “If you check “Other,” it’s not going to channel any resources to the community that you're a part of, that you identify with,” says McGill. That’s funding that could mean more Black-owned businesses, more economic development centers, and improving schools in majority Black neighborhoods over the next decade.

Kay Bounkeua, the executive director of the NM Asian Family Center, shared a similar sentiment. “An undercount of our Asian communities will result in continued invisibility of our families, our needs, and the understanding of how Asian communities are contributing to our state. It will also contribute to the perpetuation of the harmful myth that New Mexico is a tricultural state, as opposed to a multicultural state.” That tricultural myth—namely, that New Mexico’s population has historically consisted of Native American, Spanish, and Anglo people, more or less exclusively—sweeps a lot of communities and their complex histories under the rug. The reality of New Mexico is, as Bounkeua suggests, much more complex.

To combat the possibility of another decade of underrepresentation, the NM Asian Family Center (NMAFC) is encouraging people to take the census seriously. They are using Line, WeChat, and local Vietnamese radio—all channels that are used largely by Asian and Pacific Islander communities—to get the word out. They’re also partnering with community leaders at temples, mosques, and churches with large Asian and Pacific Islander congregations, whose influence will help them build momentum.

This year, there is an added layer of complexity in hard-to-count communities in New Mexico: the Trump administration’s proposal of adding a citizenship question to the survey. “Although this question did not ultimately make it onto the survey, the credibility of the census has already been damaged,” says Bounkeua. “The Asian and Pacific Islander population locally is composed of multigenerational families. Many households have family members who are considered [to have] mixed citizenship status.” This mirrors the broader immigrant community in New Mexico—those who are undocumented and their relatives are far less likely to participate, fearing that their information could be used against them. (Important note: there are laws in place to ensure census data isn’t used for anything other than producing statistics.)

Both Bounkeua’s and McGill’s organizations are working hard to educate and mobilize within their own communities. They’ve enlisted trusted community members like worship leaders and small business owners to help, and have tailored their messaging for their unique communities. They recognize that the federal funding tied to the results of the 2020 Census are pivotal for their communities—influencing wellbeing on so many fronts. 

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Alongside supporting social programs across communities, census data also influences funding streams that go toward community development grants and tax credits that benefit small businesses, especially those in lower-income neighborhoods. In 2016’s fiscal year alone, New Mexico received over $14 million dollars in funding for Business and Industry Loans. 

If the members of the local business community add their efforts to the mix by using their platforms to spread the word, we could get a better count in 2020—and thus, a more accurate picture of the complex, multicultural state we live in.