2020 Census Grants Won’t Go to Queer Colorado Orgs

The official list of 2020 Census grants in Colorado has been released, and no queer organizations appear to have made the cut.

For those not familiar with the 2020 Census Outreach Grants in Colorado, the goal is to provide money to organizations who do good for marginalized communities so that minorities will thrive and be more likely to participate in the census. This year, having a focus on queer groups is especially important, as there was a lot of controversy over how queer folks weren’t asked about identity in the Census poll.

Still, there doesn’t seem to be a concerted effort to give money to queer organizations. Both One Colorado and the OUT FRONT Foundation applied for grants, and both were denied. While our foundation is still small and fledgling, it was baffling that One Colorado didn’t receive a grant, so we reached out to them to find out more.

“Though the Census does not explicitly ask about gender identity or sexual orientation, LGBTQ people exist within all the different populations that are undercounted and underserved in the Census,” said Daniel Ramos, executive director of One Colorado. “LGBTQ folks are people of color; they are immigrants; they are people who are experiencing homelessness; they are people living in rural areas. With no LGBTQ organizations receiving funding from the 2020 Census grant program, we have to do more to ensure our community is not undercounted and truly represented in the 2020 census.”

While OUT FRONT hasn’t dug too deep into other exclusions on the Census list, some have also commented about the lack or immigrant-facing or progressive organizations on the donation list this year. Although Colorado refused to pointedly ask about citizenship, it still doesn’t look like there’s a concerted effort to give back to immigrant communities.

At this time, the Census have declined to provide comment on this story.