Ensuring a fair and accurate count.
The New York State Census Equity Fund (NYSCEF) in The New York Community Trust was established in 2018 to ensure participation in the 2020 Census by the State’s hard-to-count communities, and to encourage public engagement in the redistricting process stemming from the Census.
The Fund is directed by a Steering Committee of donors, who serve as advisors. The Steering Committee overseeing redistricting grants and activities is in formation.
The Fund’s grantmaking focuses on three main areas: community education and mobilization, advocacy at the state level, and technical assistance. Grants include:
- A $60,000 grant to The Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center to create an interactive digital map of Congressional and state legislative district lines to support public engagement in New York State’s redistricting process. The digital map is helping the public, journalists, community activists, and others to understand how redistricting will affect them and their communities.
- With a $25,000 grant, Engage New York, a network of foundations from across New York State that aims to link policy advocacy, civic engagement, and community organizing strategies in addressing issues shaping the quality of life for New Yorkers, is providing communications and networking support for the redistricting phase of the New York State Census Equity Fund.
The Trust was joined by other New York foundations in a letter to the governor asking the State to allocate more funds to the census efforts. Read the letter here and the update here.
Funders
- Altman Foundation
- Anonymous donors
- Brooklyn Community Foundation
- Central New York Community Foundation
- Charles H. Revson Foundation
- Community Foundation of Elmira-Corning and the Finger Lakes
- Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo
- Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties
- Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley
- Deutsche Bank
- Ford Foundation
- Fordham Street Foundation
- Hagerdorn Fund
- Health Foundation for Western and Central New York
- JM Kaplan Fund
- JP Morgan Chase
- Korean American Community Foundation
- Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund
- Long Island Community Foundation
- M+T Bank
- Mertz-Gilmore Foundation
- New Venture Fund
- New York Foundation
- Park Foundation
- Ralph C. Wilson Foundation
- Rauch Foundation
- Robert Sterling Clark Foundation
- Rochester Area Community Foundation
- Rockefeller Brothers Fund
- Sherman Foundation
- The Clark Foundation
- The John R. Oishei Foundation
- The New York Women’s Foundation
- The New York Community Trust
- UU Fund at Long Island Community Foundation
- Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock
- Westchester Community Foundation
- Zegar Family Foundation
If you are a funder interested in joining the New York State Census Equity Fund, please contact Program Director Patricia Swann at pas@nyct-cfi.org; or Special Projects Officer Barbara Taveras at bat@nyct-cfi.org.