Last week sparked the formation of the Inland Empire Complete Count Committee, a leadership committee comprised of community organizations, government officials, and educators with the focus on spreading awareness about the 2020 census. The 80 member committee will be a historic collaboration between San Bernardino and Riverside counties, two of the nation’s most difficult-to-count counties.

The committee’s director, Karthick Ramakrishnan, commented on its importance and concerns about the addition of a citizenship question, “"It’s important for us as a region to be able to stand on our own, know our communities better and build sophistication in terms of the policy issues affecting our region. If communities feel like they’re under attack, the worst thing to do would be to withdraw from the census because those communities are basically removing themselves from representation from the next ten years.

“Our population (in the Inland Empire) has grown pretty dramatically since 2010 and there will be the need to make sure communities are aware of how the census will work,” he said. “When you look at certain hard-to-count communities like the disabled, homeless, LGBTQ or Asian-American community, they’re spread throughout the region. There are a lot of lessons, skills and experiences that, having a larger, region-wide perspective, will allow us to benefit from.

“Anyone who cares about our region should care about having everyone counted because these are people who exist, access social services and contribute to the economy in terms of both work and consumption," Ramakrishnan said. “Any business operating in the region and any elected official representing a jurisdiction where funding depends on having an accurate count should care intensely.”

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