Written by Gabriela Orantes, LCF Just Recovery Fellow.
Last month, the Latino Community Foundation’s Just Recovery cohort hosted Censotería week – a week-long census outreach campaign with the goal to ensure that all Latinos in the state are counted in the 2020 Census.
The Just Recovery Partnership was created because it was imperative that Latinos were included in the recovery efforts to rebuild the communities in Napa and Sonoma after the 2017 Wildfires. Some may ask what the census has to do with a Just Recovery?
The census, for us, is an opportunity to carry out the practice of reclaiming the care and the sacredness of our community, and the building of collective power. The opportunity to declare our existence in this country carries so much weight.
As people with different Latin-American origins, as people who belong to different indigenous communities, and as people of all ages and races who speak more languages than just English and Spanish – this opportunity is as much about what we stand to lose as it is about what we stand to gain if we are all counted.
Recognizing that we’d have to double-down on our work to challenge the national narrative that is trying to silence and exclude us, our partnership began to prepare over a year ago to strategize how best to use our collective efforts to ensure that Latinos in our region are counted.
These collaborative efforts led to the creation of our beautifully designed Censotería!
The idea of the game grew out of La Luz Center, who knew it needed something that wasn’t a PowerPoint to reach our diverse Latino community, but rather, something rooted in our arts and culture to meet the level of engagement and power building that we do best as community-based organizations.
We’re filling out the census and so should you!
Spread the word by telling three friends today!
Below are some beautiful images showcasing our Censotería week and how the Just Recovery Partnership is creating a space where our community can be seen and heard.
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