Explanation
Background: This ordinance authorizes the Finance and Management Director to contract with the United Way of Central Ohio (UWCO) to develop and administer a grant program for community-based organizations (CBOs) to conduct outreach for the 2020 Census. The City of Columbus and Franklin County established the joint “Columbus Counts” 2020 Census Complete Count Committee (CCC) to ensure an accurate count in the 2020 Census. The CCC is made up of a broad spectrum of government and community leaders from education, business, non-profits, and other community organizations and UWCO serves as the Columbus Counts Human Services Subcommittee Chair.
To further the CCC initiative, the UWCO will develop, in consultation with the City, an expedited RFP process for CBOs to apply for census outreach, community engagement, and communications grants. The City would select a small committee to review applications and make funding decisions in consultation with UWCO staff. This grant process will need to be expedited to ensure CBOs have the necessary financial resources to conduct adequate census awareness building and education before the count starts in early March 2020. CBOs will conduct a second phase of engagement once counting has started in March through the summer of 2020 to motivate residents to self-respond to the census.
The official Census Day is April 1, 2020 and households can begin responding to the questionnaire in early March 2020. The count will run until an undetermined date in the summer of 2020 when the Census Bureau determines that the count has been finalized. To support these outreach efforts, the Department of Finance and Management is seeking authority via a separate ordinance (Ord. 3262-2019) to enter into contract with the Saunders Company for its census marketing and communications work. The Saunders Company will be available to support UWCO’s Columbus Counts Grant Program. It should also be noted that the County will be contracting with UW...
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