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The San Diego Monitor
Black Anxiety with the Census Capital & Main is an award-winning publication that (The effort failed but may still chill Latino participation.) African reports from California on economic, political and social Americans have long felt the heavy hand of administrative authority, issues. The American Prospect is co-publishing this piece. too. “The huge challenge for us is that people are nervous about giving up their information,” says James Woodson, organizing If all politics is local, then census participation is hypercoordinator at California Calls, an alliance of 31 organizations local, particularly in California, which the Census Bureau devoted to increasing political engagement in disadvantaged ranks among the hardest-to-count states in the nation. communities. The obstacles that stand in the way of an accurate census can't be swept aside on the federal level, nor from the “In our message testing, we've found that the bigger concern [for vantage of a state capital. Doubts about the African Americans] is privacy and confidentiality. People want to confidentiality of information, for instance, have to be know whatever information they give won't be used to target assuaged by people who understand those doubts; fear them.” that any encounter with the government is perilous have The price for nonparticipation could be high, as communities of to be addressed by people who fight those fears color could lose representation in the state legislature or in themselves. Congress. Communities of color face unique risks: The Voting Rights And in 2020, those fears will run high in the hardest of Act prohibits drawing congressional-district boundaries that would the hardest-to-count communities—and not just dilute so-called “majority-minority” districts, but the districts are because Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had wanted only protected if the “minority group” — people of color or people to add a series of questions about citizenship to the who speak a language other than English—represents at least 50 census form. percent of residents. When Census Bureau staff analyzed the results of the 2010 count, they concluded it was the most successful in the country’s history. But it still missed 47,000 Latino children in Los Angeles alone, exacerbating a misallocation of certain federal funds for programs such as Head Start, which hews to the count of children living in poverty. Yet community fears are, unfortunately, well-founded, says Hector Sanchez, director of finance for the Community Coalition, an alliance member headquartered in South Los Angeles, whose constituents are mostly black or Latino, with many living close to poverty. Census Bureau staff are strictly required to protect confidentiality under Title 13 of the U.S. Code. That law wasn’t enacted until 1954; before that, a pair of researchers revealed in 2007, data from the 1940 census had been exploited to surveil people of Japanese ancestry and send them to internment camps. Many people may not know that tarnished legacy, but for those who do, it makes it hard to “just trust the process,” as Sanchez says— especially in communities for whom such trust has not always paid off. “You have a criminal justice system that has incarcerated black people in large numbers,” Sanchez adds. “You see now, because of cellphone technology, the constant harassment of the black community. You have years of stories about ways that civil rights have been violated.” All of that “has created this sense of distrust” among African-Americans in his community. “So how do we get them to trust? That's the work we're trying to figure out right now.” Continued pg.7
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The San Diego Monitor
Take Aways From Afro Tech 2019 Afrotech
2019 was everything! Missed the event? No worries, below are 25 takeaways to scale our collective power in the culture, innovation, and tech.
On Nov. 7, thousands of tech innovators will converge on Oakland, California, for the fourth annual AfroTech conference, which brings together black entrepreneurs, techies, startups, and community organizations for discussions, workshops, and networking events on business, culture, and technology.
70 trillion dollars of resources were extracted from and or not provided to African Americans which has crippled our ability to accumulate wealth and leave a substantial legacy for our children
Blavity, the company behind AfroTech, has called it "the biggest black tech conference" in the nation, and it all started with a group of friends—Morgan DeBaun, Jonathan Jackson, Jeff Nelson, and Aaron Samuels—sitting at a lunch table at Washington University in St. Louis.
*The racial diversity issue in tech is not a pipeline issue *Give up the game of keeping secrets and share the resources *It’s ok to be vulnerable *Don’t be above anything *Pain is the best teacher — don’t avoid it *Be confident in your ability and bring others along with you *Democratize knowledge *Exercise your emotional intelligence and build relationships *Take risk *Be curious *Black is American culture
The word "Blavity" comes from the concept of "black gravity"— when people of color migrate toward each other in predominately white spaces, as DeBaun did with her future cofounders. After graduation, the friends headed for opposite coasts to work at Palantir Technologies, Bain Capital, Google, and Intuit but later joined forces to form their company Blavity. Since its founding in 2014, the media organization and community for multi-cultural creatives has raised $9.4 million from investors including 500 Startups and Google Ventures. Blavity has also acquired several content companies, including Travel Noire, and has 80 full-time employees with offices in Los Angeles and Atlanta. Here is an interview with the CEO of Blavity. You're also the founder and CEO of Blavity, Inc., the company behind AfroTech. Give us the elevator pitch: What is Blavity and why is it important today? Continued on pg. 6
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The San Diego Monitor
What do They Want To KNOW? What Everyone Needs to Know About 2020 Census Questions
By law, the U.S. government is required to count the number of people living in the United States every 10 years. Getting an accurate count is important because census numbers impact daily life in the United States in many ways. For example, census data are often used to determine how much federal funding is allocated for important projects and services that benefit local communities. The census also plays a vital role in our nation’s system of government by determining how many representatives will be sent to Congress from each state.
Because getting an accurate count is so important, the process is designed to be fast, easy, and safe. On average, it takes no more than 10 minutes to answer the questions on the census. How Are Census Data Collected? During the first census in 1790, census takers visited nearly every U.S. home to gather data. In 2020, households will have the option of responding online, by mail, or by phone. The Census Bureau expects many households to complete the questionnaire online, using instructions received in the mail. These instructions will also include information about how to respond by phone. Some households will receive a printed questionnaire which they can mail, postage-free, back to the
Be Counted! SDMNEWS’S Motivation Information
Census Bureau. A small percentage of households, primarily located in remote areas of the country, will be visited by a census taker who will help collect the necessary information to complete the form. Who Receives the Census Questionnaire and How Is It Filled Out? Most housing units in the United States that receive mail at their physical location will receive a letter by mail with instructions on how to complete the census questionnaire. Housing units include houses, apartments, cabins, mobile homes—pretty much any place where people live in the United States. In areas where the majority of housing units do not have mail delivered to their physical location, census workers will leave questionnaire packages at every identified housing unit. The census process also includes special provisions to count people who are homeless and those in other types of living quarters, such as college dorms, military barracks, ships, prisons, nursing homes, and homeless shelters. The person in the housing unit who fills out the census questionnaire or talks to the census taker is known as Person 1. Typically, Person 1 is the owner/co-owner or renter/corenter of the housing unit. READ MORE sdmonitornews.com
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The San Diego Monitor
SDMNEWS Must Read 2020 CA Census Guide Table of Contents Section 1: General Information (PDF) •
Initiative and Referendum Qualification Requirements
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Candidate Qualifications and Information
Section 2: Nomination Requirements (PDF) •
Presidential Candidates
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United States Representative in Congress, and Member of the State Legislature Candidates
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Nomination Documents – Nomination Papers and Declaration of Candidacy
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Signatures In Lieu of Filing Fee
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Signatures In Lieu of Filing Fee and/or Nomination Papers
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Ballot Designations
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In General
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Campaign Filings and Responsibilities
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Candidate Intention Statement
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Campaign Contribution Account
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Exceptions
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Additional Filing Information
Section 3: Candidate Filing Information (PDF) •
Required Filing Fees, Nomination Signatures
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Write-In Candidates for the Office of President
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Write-In Candidates for Voter-Nominated Offices
In-Lieu
Signatures,
Section 4: Candidate Checklist (PDF) •
President of the United States
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United States Representative in Congress
For download please go to www.sdmonitornews.com
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Blavity Inc. is a media company and community platform for black consumers, primarily in the US, focused on creating content, ideas, and experiences that bring people together. Blavity also reflects our community by distributing other voices and lives that haven't been told. We want to be as diverse as the community we're trying to represent. I heard you say in an interview that entrepreneurship is about risk, but it's also about finding and building an ecosystem to thrive in. Did you start Blavity because the ecosystem you needed just didn't exist? That's exactly right. I was working in Silicon Valley, inside the heart of innovation, but I couldn't find a media brand that spoke to the things I cared about. There was no black-run company looking to solve the problems of today's young black consumers. It seemed so obvious, but it didn't exist. So I built it. As a CEO, what are your go-to tech tools? And how complex are your daily dashboards to track success? We are deeply integrated into Asana for project management, and use Slack for all comms. We developed
The San Diego Monitor our own CMS and a bunch of other proprietary technologies. Our co-founder and CTO, Jeff Nelson, worked at Palantir so we have quite the tech stack. Blavity and AfroTech are not just focused on the US, but on the global black diaspora, right? That's a great question. Yes, the tech industry is booming globally. People come from all over the world to AfroTech, and, at Blavity, we've collaborated with clients in Haiti and South Africa. I've been inspired by how local governments in those areas are supporting young entrepreneurs to scale their businesses. The South African Tourism board is a sponsor of AfroTech and Haiti has a huge tech summit, in partnership with Google, another Blavity client. This is just the beginning.
I've been inspired by how local governments in those areas are supporting young entrepreneurs to scale their businesses. Read entire interview on www.sdmonitornews.com
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The San Diego Monitor “CoCo,” as Sanchez's group is often called, is housed in a building whose lobby is bathed in soothing light that pours in through tall plate-glass windows and from circular lights that hang from the ceiling, like halos. “The circles are meant to emphasize a sense of inclusiveness and collaboration in decision-making,” Sanchez says. “We're all about transparency,” he says. To that end CoCo and other organizations are hoping to help black and Latino residents conquer the fear, apathy, suspicions and uncertainty that might dissuade them from participating next April in the 2020 census. AFRICAN AMERICANS HAVE A LONG HISTORY of being undercounted in the decennial census, dating back to the first one in 1790, after white Northerners imposed the “three-fifths compromise” to enumerate Southern African Americans held in captivity and forced into labor. The rule was meant to constrain the power of the white Southern voting bloc when parceling out seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and votes in the Electoral College. But it later became a metaphor for the systemic dehumanization of black people in the United States. (It wasn’t officially repealed until 1868, with the 14th Amendment.) More recently, census enumerators have missed African-American residents in the United States because
they haven't been able to reach them. The Census Bureau's estimate of its own 2010 accuracy, released in 2012, found that slightly more than 2 percent of African-Americans were missed that year, including 6 percent of African American children—a percentage double that of white children. In contrast, the white non-Latino population was over counted by nearly 1 percent. Researchers expect 2020 will be worse. A recent report by the nonprofit Urban Institute estimates that the undercount of African Americans in the U.S. could rise to nearly four percent. “There’s a lot of overlap with black folks and other hard-to-count communities,” says Woodson, whose organization is coordinating the official census outreach effort to African-Americans through its California Black Census and Redistricting Hub. “There is homelessness, which black people are disproportionately affected by. There are low-income folks. In California, especially, there are black immigrants and refugees, and black Muslims, who, based on this federal landscape, might be less likely to want to fill out a census form.” There is also the problem of gentrification, Woodson says, which has broken up the kind of cohesive communities that could be mobilized around the census. READ MRE www.sdmonitornews.com WWW.SDMONITORNEWS.COM READ MORE WWW.SDMONITORNEWS.COM