A Letter from our President & CEO
Dear Ventura County Community Foundation Family,
This morning I am reminded about all that we can accomplish together, thank you!! Today Ventura County emerged as 4th in California for the self-response period in the 2020 Census and ALL cities in Ventura County are exceeding the national average! Wow!
When we think about that figure, I am reminded that Ventura County was identified by the federal government in 2018 as one of the top 2% of counties in the nation most at-risk of an undercount in the 2020 Census (59th out of more than 3,000)! When each person not counted is a loss of $2,000 per year for ten years for our community (initial projected loss of $2 billion over ten-years), the threat to our social safety system and our community was tremendous.
Thankfully, with your help, the dedicated leadership of the County of Ventura and our local city governments, and over 300 members of our local 2020 Complete Count Committee, over $1.6 million was been contributed, in addition to thousands of volunteer hours, to help make this possible.
It was disheartening when on March 12th, the day the Census went live, that we found ourselves needing to suspend so many of our planned census activities, but thankfully, leadership throughout our government and nonprofit communities quickly pivoted, putting census material into hundreds of thousands of bags of food, posting electronic signs, banners, postcards, and even personal phone calls from local promotoras and other key community leaders.
We must not rest! Especially as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to place extreme pressure on our public health system and local economy, we need an accurate census count now more than ever. The #1 user of census data is business and we will need financial investment into our community now more than ever.
Please help spread the word of the 2020 Census, and if you have not completed the quick and easy form, please visit https://my2020census.gov/ today.
Keep up the great work!
Best,
Vanessa