Forefront’s IL Count Me In 2020 program is pleased to announce a partnership with the City of Chicago for Census outreach purposes. In 2020, IL Count Me In 2020 and the City will provide $500,000 of the City’s $2.7 million investment in Census funding to community-based organizations to educate and engage their constituents on the 2020 Census. This unique partnership will help ensure that every Chicagoan is counted.

Applicant organizations with budgets of $1 million or less will be given first preference. Historically undercounted communities (families of color, children under five-years-old, the elderly, veterans, returning residents, individuals with high rates of mobility and housing instability, residents with disabilities, those with limited access to the Internet, and those who may be afraid to participate) are encouraged to apply.

In particular, the following City communities had the lowest response rates in 2010, and organizations serving these communities are highly encouraged to apply:

• West Garfield Park
• Washington Park
• North Lawndale
• Lower West Side
• New City
• Englewood
• East Garfield Park
• Humboldt Park
• South Lawndale
• West Englewood
• Fuller Park
• South Chicago

The grant application portal will go live on Forefront’s website as of midnight, Monday, December 16, 2019. The portal will accept applications through 11:59pm on Wednesday, January 15, 2020. Grant decisions will be committed by January 31, 2020, and funds will be disbursed by mid-February. These selected grantees, the Chicago Count Me In 2020 group, will form the second cohort of the IL Count Me In 2020 program. Grant applications will be reviewed and vetted by representatives of the IL Count Me In 2020 Funders’ Collaborative.

The grant application portal can be found here.

Forefront will host two free informational webinars to discuss the IL Count Me In 2020 program, the grant portal, the RFP, and answer questions from applicants regarding the RFP. The first webinar will take place on December 17 at 10am. An FAQ document will be posted after the webinar, and the webinar will be recorded. The recording of the webinar will be posted on Forefront’s and the IL Count Me In 2020 websites. To register for the webinar, click here. The second webinar will take place on January 7, 2020, at 10am. To register for the second webinar, click here.

Many questions about the RFP process are addressed on the IL Count Me In 2020 FAQ page.

If you have any additional questions regarding the RFP, please reach out to Forefront’s Democracy Initiative team, Anita Banerji, at [email protected] or Yoselyn Ovalle, at [email protected].

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