Race & Origin Questions in Context: Understanding the 2020 Census

Accurate, detailed data on race and origin are necessary to enforce a broad array of civil rights protections, reveal disparate impacts of laws and policies, and ensure programs meet the needs of diverse communities. This brief provides background on the 2020 Census’ race and origin questions, including a discussion of proposed but rejected changes to the questions.

Unworkable & Unwise: Conditioning Access to Programs that Ensure a Basic Foundation for Families on Work Requirements

This working paper outlines the ramifications of taking away Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and housing assistance from those who do not document meeting new work and community engagement requirements. The paper underscores how proposals that take away basic assistance from people who don’t meet work requirements are ill-informed, ineffective, inefficient, and inequitable, while alternative policies would produce far better outcomes.

Investing in Futures: Economic and Fiscal Benefits of Postsecondary Education in Prison

GCPI and the Vera Institute of Justice make the case for how lifting the current ban on awarding Pell Grants to incarcerated people would benefit workers, employers, and states. Specifically, it analyzes the potential employment and earnings impact of postsecondary education programs in prison; identifies the millions of job openings annually that require the skills a person in prison could acquire through postsecondary education and estimates the money states would save through lower recidivism rates these postsecondary education programs would yield.

Why a Fair and Accurate Census Matters to Thriving Private and Public Sectors

Both the 2020 Census and the American Community Survey (ACS) face fiscal, operational, and policy threats that could jeopardize a fair and accurate count and weaken the data that shape thriving public and private sectors. This resource explains the vital roles the 2020 Census and ACS play in the health care, education, housing, local government, transportation, and manufacturing sectors and the steps stakeholders can take to protect the surveys.

Will You Count? American Indians and Alaska Natives in the 2020 Census

American Indians and Alaska Natives have been historically undercounted for decades, in part due to the fact that roughly than one in four American Indians and Alaska Natives live in hard-to-count census tracts. Factors such as poverty, educational attainment, and housing insecurity can compound American Indians and Alaska Natives’ risk of being undercounted. Being undercounted potentially disadvantages American Indian and Alaska Native families, communities, and neighborhoods.