Today, Census Bureau officials are meeting with representatives from the Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes in Minnesota to discuss issues that affect American Indian and Alaska Native communities (AIAN) ahead of the 2020 Census. This is a critical part of our overall communication and outreach efforts directed at ensuring an accurate, cost-effective population count in 2020. I’m excited to collaborate with tribal leaders, and eager to hear their thoughts on how we can better serve their communities.

This is the first of eight tribal consultation meetings, plus a national webinar that all federally recognized tribes will be invited to attend, that the Census Bureau will hold across the country over the next six months. Through these meetings, we hope to meet with representatives from as many of the more than 500 federally recognized tribes as possible. Building awareness about the importance of the 2020 Census is essential in motivating response to the census in communities across our diverse nation, including the AIAN population living both on and off tribal lands. It’s also our responsibility as a government agency, following an Executive Order signed in 2000, that we hold meaningful and accountable consultations with tribes on matters that have significant tribal implications.

Our past collaborations with tribal governments and American Indian organizations have been very productive; I know that AIAN outreach and partnerships can have a big impact from my time overseeing the 2000 Census. We also had great success working with the National Congress of American Indians on the Indian Country Counts campaign during the 2010 Census.

Today’s meeting is the first of many times that we’ll be reaching out to and communicating with the AIAN community ahead of the 2020 Census. We’re keen to build on our government-to-government relationship to receive feedback. Through collaboration, we can make progress in a way that meets the community’s needs, and helps the Census Bureau listen to and use the AIAN population’s input to increase the response rate and accuracy in Indian country. We also want to get information from tribal leaders on topics like outreach and promotion, data collection operations, geography and others.

I’m excited to attend the next tribal consultation on October 14 in Anchorage, Alaska – stay tuned for an update from me about that meeting. I’m confident that by working together, we can make progress in a way that meets the community’s needs, and helps the Census Bureau capture the best possible information about the American Indian and Alaska Native population.