The 2020 Census: What’s at Stake? (BU Alumni Weekend)

On Thursday, October 1, 2020, the Initiative on Cities (IOC) and the BU Alumni Association held The 2020 Census: What’s at Stake?, part of 2020 Alumni Weekend. The event included findings from “Counting the City: Mayoral Views on the 2020 Census”, a brief on the census findings from our forthcoming 2020 Menino Survey of Mayors.

2020 is the year of the US Census — when every person in the country is asked to stand up and be counted. For cities and states, undercounting can have adverse political and financial consequences for the next decade. This session offered insight into the ways in which the census is integral to our democracy, who was counted and who was not, and the many creative ways mayors have attempted to count residents in every corner of their communities.

Maxwell Palmer, Assistant Professor of Political Science and IOC Faculty Fellow, presented findings.