Race Forward, part of the Racial Equity Anchor Collective, is part of a new national effort to build power in our communities by making sure we’re all counted in the upcoming 2020 Census, through the My Family Matters, My Family Counts campaign. Census Day is April 1, 2020, and the stakes are higher than ever. The count will determine resources for our communities for years to come, such as federal funding for programs, hospitals, fire departments, new schools and roads, as well as representation in Congress.

From now until Census Day, every household will receive an invitation to participate in the 2020 Census. That’s why we’ve teamed up with nine organizations from the Racial Equity Anchor Collaborative to develop a toolkit for you to help us get the word out about Census 2020. Our robust outreach toolkit contains: branding materials, with variations of Census 2020 and Anchor Collaborative logos, social media images and assets, and digital elements for print to create event promotion materials, t-shirts, sticker designs, and posters. 

Here are three ways to complete the census: 

Online: Complete your census directly online (for the first time, the Census form will be available in 13 languages)

By Phone: The Census can be completed by phone in 13 languages. 

By Mail: Request a paper Census form in English or Spanish that can be mailed back to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

You can even sign up for Census email updates, view a Census timeline, apply for Census jobs, or learn about how to get counted in special circumstances like people who live in Puerto Rico, in U.S. Islands, in RVs, in shelters, or who are incarcerated. 

To follow along with the conversation, use the hashtags #MyFamilyCounts and #Census2020, tag Race Forward, and make sure to be counted on April 1st! 

Check out our latest below!

Angela Glover Blackwell and Kenrya Rankin on Momentum 

Stream the latest episodes from our podcast today! 

This month we bring you two brand new episodes of Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast!

On Episode 4, Angela Glover Blackwell, founder in residence at Policylink, and host of the new Radical Imagination podcast, talks about her longtime work as a leading voice in the movement for equity and racial justice. In the conversation, Angela talks about the “racial moment” we are currently living, and challenges us to think radically in creating narratives that will lead to concrete solutions.

In Episode 5, Kenrya Rankin, former Colorlines Senior Editorial Director, joins us to talk about everything from ‘freedom dreaming’ to Black love and sex in books and podcasts. Kenrya talks about her beginnings in Cleveland and her move to New York, what her book How We Fight White Supremacy: A Field Guide To White Resistance means to her one year later, and her own journey as co-host of The Turn On, a podcast about sex and literary erotica. 

Stream the latest episodes of Momentum on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Play and make sure to subscribe today!

WATCH: "What Is Energy Democracy?"

Check out our new video lifting up Energy Democracy work

Energy Democracy is defined as “a way to frame the struggle of working people, low-income communities, and communities of color, and their allies, to take control of energy resources and decision-making from the corporate energy establishment and use those resources to empower their communities”.

Race Forward produced “What Is Energy Democracy?”, a video that uplifts the events of the 2019 Strategic Energy Democracy Convening. Thirty-six energy democracy leaders from across the nation convened to build collective power around the mission of advancing the movement to democratize energy, while placing an important emphasis on the centrality of race to energy issues.

Learn more by visiting energydemocracy.us, and if you’d like to know more about the book that spurred the national movement around developing renewable energy sources based on community empowerment, we encourage you to take a look at Energy Democracy from Island Press Books. 

Staff Picks

Credit: Thirft Books

Find out what art & culture is attracting the attention of our staff! This month we hear from our Director of Strategic Communications & Public Engagement, Melissa Franqui! 

"I just finished reading Mean by Myriam Gurba. The book is a collection of vignettes that detail searing and sometimes comical coming-of-age moments intersecting with racism, misogyny, and sexual violence. Sharp and clever in the way it draws on feminist artist Ana Mendieta, the narrative validates those of us that have had to develop a mean firewall to try and block or process societal cruelty.” 

What are you listening to, watching, reading and learning? Tell us on Twitter or Facebook.

In solidarity,

Team Race Forward