Canvassing Neighborhoods

A great way to increase awareness about the upcoming census is to canvass specific neighborhoods, especially ones where you think families might be wary of completing their census forms or may not understand how important an accurate census count is to their family and community.

Your presence and credibility in the community give you an opportunity to be welcomed and heard at people's homes. Their trust in you will make them open to hearing what you have to say about the census and reading material you might leave behind.

Organizing a canvass can also have a lasting benefit for your organization. It can create a great sense of camaraderie and empowerment among volunteer canvassers. And it can boost your organization's visibility in, and connection to, the neighborhoods you serve.

Tips

Target your canvassing efforts to neighborhoods that have high numbers of hard-to-count communities. You can use the targeting maps in this kit, or data available from the Census Bureau's website, to prioritize neighborhoods.
Have training sessions for volunteers to make sure they understand your campaign's key messages and know how to handle any difficulties that may arise.
Set up a good plan to cover the neighborhood (anyone with voter turnout or campaign experience can help) and a record-keeping system so that you can keep track of which households you've been able to contact directly. That will help you do effective followup canvassing to reach as many people as possible.
Canvass on the weekend or in the afternoon when families are most likely to be home.
Recruit volunteers who live in the neighborhood you are going to canvass.
Try to recruit bilingual volunteers in neighborhoods that you know have a lot of people who speak languages other than English.
Consider a block party or other high-visibility event to launch a neighborhood canvass.