Colleagues, Here is an update from Gavin Baker at the American Library Association on the QACs. As many of you are aware, the QACs are especially important for adults who may have challenges with understanding the Census form or completing it online. Deborah Deborah Kennedy Senior Consultant / Owner, Key Words President, National Coalition for Literacy office: 202-364-1964 (September-May) office: 603-293-2402 (June-August) http://www.key-words.us http://www.national-coalition-literacy.org ============ Forwarded message ============ From: Gavin Baker <gbaker@alawash.org> To: "Gavin Baker"<gbaker@alawash.org> Cc: "Larra Clark HQ Email"<lclark@ala.org> Date: Thu, 23 May 2019 15:41:31 -0400 Subject: Census Questionnaire Assistance Centers - House language ============ Forwarded message ============ Hello Census stakeholders,   Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee approved its https://appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/appropriations-committee-approves-fiscal-year-2020-commerce-justice-science. The https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/FY2020%20CJS%20Report%20Draft.pdf includes the following language responding to the Census Bureau’s plan for Questionnaire Assistance Centers in the 2020 Census:   While the Committee remains hopeful that individuals will elect to self-respond to the decennial survey, the 2020 Census faces many hurdles with hard-to-reach communities. The Committee has previously directed the Bureau to prioritize a strong engagement strategy with partners and trusted voices in the community. The Committee recommends the Census Bureau take steps to develop the Mobile Response Initiative as described in the Bureau’s report to the Committee on increasing the number of temporary Census offices and partnership staff to support the 2020 Census. The Committee supports such initiatives and encourages the Census Bureau to concentrate its efforts in hard to count communities and work with State, local, and tribal partners to identify locations for the Mobile Response Initiative to target. To that end, the Committee provides an additional $100,000,000 above the request towards these efforts. (pp. 14-15)   While we appreciate the committee’s inclusion of funding and direction to develop the initiative, important questions remain about whether the plan will meet communities’ needs to achieve a complete count. We hope that members of Congress will request more information from the Census Bureau to provide more clarity about the plan. We will also be reaching out to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which has not yet acted on the Census Bureau’s budget for 2020, to discuss the issue. I’ll share additional updates as the issue moves forward. If you’d like more information, please let me know.   Thanks for your continued support,   Gavin Baker, MSLIS Assistant Director of Government Relations  American Library Association mailto:gbaker@alawash.org (202) 628-8410