The Amp

The 2020 Census has been mailed to addresses across the United States. Now is the time to ensure that everyone responds to the census, and a fair and accurate count is determined. A fair and accurate census ensures that federal dollars are disbursed where they are needed most. Decisions on social insurance programs like Medicaid and Medicare, and infrastructure programs like Community Development Block Grants are made based on census data. It is essential that this data reflect everyone who lives in our country. Read our languange and messaging tips for talking about the census in a manner that is grounded in shared values and equity.    

• Messaging and communications tools: The Opportunity Agenda's A Fair and Accurate Count; United We Dream’s Census toolkit; The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’ The Census Counts; National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights’ petition to call for a suspension of immigration enforcement during the Census
• Hashtags: #CountMeIn; #Census2020; #SaveTheCensus; #WeAllCount; #GetCounted 

With a historic $2 trillion stimulus bill on its way to a House vote, it is as important as ever that we advocate for low-income households, immigrant families, and marginalized communities. As the crisis develops, it is likely that additional measures will be debated, gaps in the rushed legislation may come to light, and that similar debates on coronavirus relief will take place at the state and local level. We've compiled values-based messaging from our partners on the most recent federal legislation, much of which will apply going forward as the policy response to the crisis continues.

• Messaging and communications tools: CBPP and Niskanen Center: How to strengthen Senate Republican proposal; EPI: safeguards needed to protect working people and fight corporate greed; Tax Policy Center: direct payments in coronavirus stimulus bill are well targeted to low- and middle-income households; Fast Company: How to redesign America’s safety net 
• Hashtags: #coronavirus; #COVID19; #StimulusBill; #paidfamilyleave; #ProtectAllPeople 

Below is a list of this week's communication hooks as well as events that you can use to reach new audiences and inform existing ones. Click on each link for messaging tools and hashtags. Note that many plans are in flux as communities address the coronavirus crisis. Check parter websites for news on how to participate and support events remotely. 

Events and Cultural Hooks:

• National Farmworker Awareness Week: March 25-31
• Muslim Women's Day: March 27
• International Transgender Day of Visibility: March 31
• The People's State of the Union: through April 20
• Second Chance Month: April 1-30
• Medicaid Awareness Month: April 1-30

Historical Anniversaries: 

• AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) holds its first demonstration: March 24, 1987
• Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: March 25, 1911
• "Scottsboro Boys" incident, which resulted in Supreme Court ruling on racial bias in jury selection: March 25, 1931
• Aretha Franklin born in Memphis, TN: March 25, 1942
• Surviving Cherokee people of the Smoky Mountains reach the end of the "Trail of Tears" in the Oklahoma Territory: March 26, 1839
• Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark confirms "birthright" citizenship: March 28, 1998
• 150th Anniversary - Fifteenth Amendment ratified, giving black men the right to vote: March 30, 1870
• Cesar Chavez born in Yuma, AZ: March 31, 1927
• Civilian Conservation Corps established: March 31, 1933
• Assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: April 4, 1968
• First Scottsboro Trial begins: April 6, 1931