Witnesses push for multi‑year, flexible state funding to allow community groups to scale census outreach
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Summary
At an Oct. 31 hearing, advocates and municipal officials said Massachusetts must not repeat the late distributions of 2020 funding. They urged a trust‑fund or multi‑year appropriation, earlier grant rounds to support hiring and message testing, and mechanisms for nimble re‑deployment to undercounted neighborhoods.
Advocates, voting‑rights groups and municipal officials told the Senate Committee on the Census on Oct. 31 that the timing and flexibility of state grants will determine whether community groups can mount effective outreach for the 2030 census.
"We actually urge the legislature to invest in the amounts significantly past previous funding cycles," said Jeff Foster, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, who recommended a dedicated funding vehicle — a trust fund administered for quick, targeted grants to communities with historic undercounts.
What happened in 2020: Witnesses recalled that state grants approved in 2019–2020 were often distributed late; several said organizations did not receive funds until early 2020 and that the nonresponse follow‑up period was then disrupted by the COVID‑19 pandemic. Beth Wong and other panelists described philanthropic nimbleness — the Census Equity Fund’s roughly $1.5 million in grants — as a key supplement because private funds could be moved more quickly than larger public appropriations.
How much and when: Witnesses cited past allocations — roughly $2.9 million to the Secretary of the Commonwealth in 2020 — and compared other jurisdictions (California’s $40 million; New York City’s $20 million in 2020) to suggest the state consider substantially larger, multi‑year commitments. Panelists sketched illustrative funding rollouts: an initial launch pot in 2026 to support message testing and hiring (witnesses suggested $3–5 million as an early tranche in some scenarios), mid‑term testing in 2027–28, and a final surge in 2029–30 for boots‑on‑the‑ground follow‑up.
Administration and delivery: Testimony urged a state mechanism that can issue targeted, rapid grants (an administrative model suggested was an A&F‑administered trust fund or a dedicated GAA line with delegated rapid‑grant authority) and recommended that the Secretary of the Commonwealth be resourced to support technical assistance, GIS and outreach coordination.
Next steps: Committee members heard a repeated request: begin budgeting now so that funding is available earlier in the outreach timeline, allow philanthropic partners to operate on the same cadence, and build in flexibility to pivot resources as hard‑to‑count maps evolve.
Evidence: Testimony from Jeff Foster (Common Cause), Beth Wong (former Mass Voter Table), Vatsidi Sivan Tsai (MIRA) and municipal representatives at the Oct. 31 hearing.
