Midwives and the U.S. Census: Making Sure Every Child Counts

Thursday, April 23, 2020 1:00-3:00 ET

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Very young children, from infants to four years old, are historically the population at greatest risk of being undercounted in the U.S. Census, with an estimated one million uncounted in the 2010 Census. Many federal programs, that support young children, families and communities, such as nutritional assistance, Head Start and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, rely on accurate data about where young children live to provide foundational services for children. The 2020 Census will dictate the distribution of more than $675 billion dollars of federal programs, and the Bureau is making a concerted effort to address this issue by creating community partnerships.

NACPM is partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau to provide information and support to midwives across the country so they can help ensure an accurate count of newborns and young children. Claire Ross, Account Manager of the National Partnership Program at the U.S. Census Bureau and this webinar’s keynote presenter, believes that midwives can play an essential role as trusted voices in reaching out to parents and caregivers to remind and encourage them to include babies and children in the 2020 Census.

We are most pleased that Micaela Cadena of New Mexico and Rhonda Lee Grantham of Washington State, both long time advocates for birthing people, babies and families, will join the webinar to present about their communities’ context and challenges with counting young children in the Census. Micaela Cadena is the Research Director of Bold Futures (formerly Young Women United) and a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Rhonda Lee Grantham, a cultural anthropologist, is an Indigenous Midwife from the Cowlitz Nation and the founder of the Center for Indigenous Midwifery.

Please join us for this important webinar so you can do your part to ensure inclusion of babies and children in the federal programs that matter so much to families and communities.