In a surprise move the U. S. Census director announced that the final Census count would be shortened by one month, and therefore adding to the challenges that the pandemic had already created for communities like Grand Rapids, Well Design’s Raul Alvarez (while on contract with the City) proposed and created an aggressive 4-week campaign to address this challenge. This campaign included an assertive media relations strategy, a targeted multimedia campaign focused on Latinx/Spanish-speaking media, and a well-planned and executed grassroots effort that consisted of recruiting community volunteers to conduct door-to-door canvassing in historically undercounted Census tracts.
This campaign was kicked off with a successful press conference that included members of the City’s Complete Count Census Committee, community partners and the Grand Rapids Public Schools and the media. This aggressive strategy and campaign, aimed at sending a sense of urgency message to these targeted communities to be counted before the shortened count data of September 30, successfully complemented Well Design’s ongoing multimedia campaign and proved successful and pivotal in helping surpass the City’s Census count goal of 80%.