​2020 Khmer Census

As 2 Khmerican Sisters, we believe it is important for us to tell our story, a story of a community that is too often buried in the model minority myth. One way for our community to be heard is by making sure we all get counted in the 2020 Census. 

Completing the 2020 census ensures that our community gets the federal funding for programs that our elders and community members heavily depend on, such as Social Security SSI, EBT food stamps, free and reduced school lunch, Medicare/Medicaid, TANF, and WIC. It also helps local and trusted community based organizations secure funding. These organizations rely on census data in their grant writing when they seek to fulfill culturally competent programming for our community.
 
Fill out the census online by visiting my2020census.gov.

• Don't have a census ID?
  • Just click on the link underneath that says "If you do not have a census ID, click here"
• Need help filling out the census?
  • Khmer Census 2020 has help in both Khmer and English speakers. You can find them on IG and FB at Khmercensus2020 or by emailing  khmercensus2020@gmail.com or calling (612) 470-1773.

​
Khmer Census 2020 is a collective led Khmer Anti-deportation Advocacy Group of WA (KhAAG), which advocates getting all Khmer people counted in the 2020 Census.
 
Our essential message to the community is to get counted because:

• Many Khmer folks depend on federal programs: SSI, Medicare/Medicaid, EBT-food stamps, Free/Reduced School lunch, WIC etc. where the funds allocated depends on the population of a given geographic location. For example, if 100 Khmer people live at Mt. Baker Village, but only 50 get counted, the community stands to lose out on funding going to 50 people who didn't get counted. That's a significant financial impact that the community is missing out on. In Washington State, it's estimated that for every undercounted person, we lose $2000 of funding, which equates to $20K for every census cycle.

 

• Many community based organizations like ACRS, SWYFS use census data to get funding. When ACRS applies for grants or makes a case for funding, they use census data as evidence. For example, if ACRS asks King County for financial assistance to fund their youth programs, they can point to census data and say "hey, look, there's a lot of Khmer families that live in our service area so we need funding specifically for them." Another example is the City of Seattle's Emergency Safeway Food Vouchers emerging due to the pandemic. Low income community members received $200 - $400 for help with groceries. How did the City of Seattle know where to send them? They used census data to find the communities most in need and connect them with trusted community based organizations to get them in the right hands.

 
While folks are free to write in what they identify as, in the "What's your race?" question, mark "Other asian" and write in "KHMER" The Khmer community is underserved and under resourced due in large part to our visibility, essentially we lack any in the public at large. One way to raise our visibility and tell our story is to get counted in the census and fill it out as a "KHMER" person.

@khmercensus2020
Activist: Bunthay Cheam