Philly Counts 2020 to Host Action Leaders Summit to Help Fight Census Misinformation in Philadelphia
Philly Counts 2020 will host its Action Leaders Summit on November 9, at South Philadelphia High School with a goal of having an Action Leader in each one of the city’s 383 census tracts by spring.
PHILADELPHIA – Philly Counts 2020, the City of Philadelphia’s initiative created to ensure a complete and accurate count in 2020, is currently building capacity and planning for next year’s census count. The Action Leaders Summit is a key aspect of the planning process, focused on planning and mobilizing actions at the grassroots level in the spring. The event is a free full-day summit targeted towards Census Champions, community leaders, organizers, and the general public as the next level of engagement with Philadelphia’s census efforts.
The Action Leaders Summit will feature discussions about historically undercounted communities, a Q&A period with the U.S. Census Bureau, details on Philly Counts’ data-informed engagement strategy, and a planning session in breakout groups by neighborhood, to provide a full organizing experience to all attendees.
“We are thankful for the commitment of our Census Champions, who are now on their way to becoming Action Leaders,” said Mayor Jim Kenney. “These individuals will be working side by side with us in the community, making sure that every Philadelphia resident understands why the census matters for all of us,—regardless of race, gender or citizenship or immigration status. This is already the greatest effort that the City has executed for any decennial census, and the Philly Counts team has even more planned for the months ahead.”
“To date, Philly Counts has trained 3,000 Philadelphians as Census Champions, in as many as seven languages. These folks will now have the opportunity to become Action Leaders by participating in our high-level summit. When the summit ends, every leader will have the skills and knowledge to plan Census Action Days in their communities,” added Stephanie Reid, Executive Director of Philly Counts 2020.
Philly Counts has partnered with statewide and national organizations that have undertaken the colossal task of creating awareness about the importance of the 2020 Census. Action Leaders will learn from in-depth discussions based on recent studies about various hard-to-count communities in Philadelphia, such as Hispanic and Latino, African American, Asian American, LGBTQ+, children under five-years-old, and those over the age of 50.
Speakers will include: Julio Rivera, Northeast Census Campaign Manager, NALEO Educational Fund; Emely Paez, Director of Government Affairs & Civil Engagement, Hispanic Federation; Jeri Green, Census 2020 Senior Advisor, National Urban League; Raima Roy, Program Associate for Census and Civic Engagement, Asian American Advancing Justice; Shanequa Davis, Senior Field Organizer, National LGBTQ Task Force; Trude Haecker, MD, Vice President, PA Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics; Yocasta Lora, Associate State Director for Advocacy & Community Outreach, AARP Pennsylvania; Jo Lin, Coalition Manager, Keystone Counts; and Fernando Armstrong, Philadelphia Regional Director, U.S. Census Bureau.
Members of the public who are interested in attending the summit must complete the Census Champion training, which is a prerequisite to signing up for the Action Leaders Summit. Those who have not attended a Census Champion training session in person, the training is available online at FactSumo, or they can watch a recording by PhillyCAM.
The Action Leaders Summit will be held at South Philadelphia High School, located at 2101 South Broad Street. The summit is a free event. Early registration is encouraged, but registration will be available at the door until seats are filled. Each attendee will receive complimentary breakfast, lunch, snacks, and a swag bag with the Action Leaders toolkit. Sign up to become an Action Leader.