WE ALL COUNT: 2020 CENSUS

In this live lunchtime virtual event on August 26, 2020, we explored how communities and organizations are coming together around the 2020 census and voter registration and outreach.

Speakers included Susan Balbas, co-founder and executive director of The Na’ah Illahee Fund (NIF) in conversation with Kamau Chege, director of the Washington Census Alliance, and local Community Organizer Nura Abdi, working on voter registration and outreach. As well as a musical performance from the Tacoma Refugee Choir.

Below you’ll find a link to the event video, Civic Commons and our after-event Take Action Toolkit.

Missed the Live Event? Watch it now

Post Event Take Action Toolkit

Our partners and speakers came together to assemble a series of resources to help inspire you and help you take action around the 2020 census and voter outreach. You’ll find:

We All Count Speakers

Nura Abdi (she/her)
Community Organizer
Nura was born in a refugee camp in Eastern Kampala, Uganda. Nura’s commitment to fighting for immigrant and criminal justice for the thousands of young Black and Brown people who are subjected to the systemic and institutionalized racism that is ingrained in our broken immigration and criminal justice systems is rooted in her experience growing up as a Black refugee here in the U.S. and being able to see the intersections of her Blackness and her immigration status as well as her activism and why that matters in her community. Nura is a poet, writer, and organizer working to bring real actionable change to her community through an anti-racist, anti-capitalist lens, centering her community more than anything. She believes that through policy, community organizing, and equitable political justice, we can truly make the changes we wish to see in our communities.

Susan Balbas (she/her)
Co-founder & Executive Director of Na’ah Illahee Fund
(Mother Earth in the Chinook language)
NIF is a Seattle-based nonprofit organization with a mission to support and promote the leadership of Indigenous womxn in the ongoing regeneration of Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Science in Teaching. Her career has been within nonprofit and business management, and she has served on multiple boards and committees locally and nationally. Susan is active within climate, environmental, and social justice movements as well as in philanthropy.

Kamau Chege (he/him)
Director of the Washington Census Alliance
The Washington Census Alliance is a statewide coalition of over 90 organizations and tribes led by and working in communities of color to ensure a fair and complete count in Washington State. Prior to that, Kamau was a leader in the immigrant youth movement, co-founding the Washington Dream Coalition. In 2014, he helped lead the effort to pass the Washington State Dream Act and push the Obama Administration to create DAPA. Kamau is a graduate of Stadium High School and Whitworth University. 

  

Noah Collier (he/him)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center Youth Ambassador Alumni
Noah currently attends Green River College in Auburn and will be transferring to an HBCU to study music. He was born and raised in Kent and is currently a Discovery Center Youth Ambassador Alumni as well a Kent representative for Black Minds Matter. Noah is passionate about black art and uniting people through music. Noah hopes to help create a world where equal opportunity exists for black youth.

Moderator & Event Partner:
Frank Nam (he/him)
Civic Commons
Frank Nam is a Project Director with Civic Commons and leads the We Belong Here work. He serves on the boards of Leadership Tomorrow and USA Ultimate. He has served on the boards of 826 Seattle (now the Bureau of Fearless Ideas), Southend Ultimate Program, and Seattle Works. Prior to his current role, he supervised the Community Engagement Coordinators in the City of Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods. Before that, he was the National Admissions Director for City Year, Inc., a foster care mentorship coordinator at Treehouse, an SAT/GRE instructor, a web developer, and a paperboy for the New Jersey Star-Ledger. He graduated from Rutgers College with a BA in History.