The NCL has made the 2020 Census its priority issue for 2018-2020. Our overarching goal in doing so is to ensure as full a count as possible of adult learners and their families and codependents. Many of these residents fall into one or more of the groups that the Census Bureau has identified as “hard to count” (and therefore at risk of an undercount). “Hard to count” populations include low-income households, foreign-born persons, people of color, rural residents, and young children.

The NCL has three interrelated objectives for its work on Census 2020:

• To provide information and advocacy so that policy makers understand and make provision for the challenges that adult learners may face in participating in the Census
• To give adult education practitioners the tools they need to support adult learners in understanding and completing the Census. View Census resources here.
• To collaborate with and support the work of other organizations that are focused on ensuring a complete count

Information and Advocacy for Policy Makers

• The NCL is providing guidance to the Census Bureau’s National Partnership Program on effective ways of working with adult education programs to ensure a full and fair count of hard-to-count populations.
• The NCL signed on to an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court outlining reasons for opposing the addition of a citizenship question to the Census.

Tools and Resources for Adult Education Practitioners

• Resources: NCL is maintaining a regularly updated collection of links to Census-related resources here.
• Webinars: NCL and its member organizations will be providing a series of webinars on key Census topics throughout 2019 and 2020. The webinar schedule, registration links, and links to recordings and slide decks are here.
• Presentations: NCL members are providing presentations on the importance of the Census for adult education at national and state conferences during 2019 and 2020. The conference schedule and links to slide decks are here.

Collaborative Activities

• The NCL is a partner in Census Counts, a nationwide collaboration sponsored by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.