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Background

Early in 2021, the Ventura County Community Foundation connected with Kathleen Kelly Janus, Senior Advisor on Social Innovation to Governor Gavin Newsom, about the State of California’s plan to reactivate 2020 Census Complete Count Committees (CCC) to support outreach and education to hard-to-count communities on the importance of being vaccinated and to combat misinformation.  

To that end, just two weeks later, we held our first meeting with this dedicated group of trusted messengers. 78 organizations were in attendance in both Spanish and English.  And just recently we convened a second meeting to continue to move outreach strategies forward. Our Complete Count Committee members made it clear how urgent these efforts are needed in Ventura County and will be able to replicate the success of their Census outreach efforts.

Why Use Complete Count Committees?

During the 2020 Census campaign, CCCs remained the most unifying and motivating groups to lead the charge on fostering education and awareness. Within Ventura County, we were able to convene numerous community based organizations and bring together a robust and diverse representation of our county who recognized the importance of the Census and could effectively communicate the message to their clients, customers, and participants. Relying on trusted messengers and community connections was vital to this effort to reduce fears and hesitation. VCCF also understood that we could not be experts in all areas of our region, but through these trusted partnerships we could leverage our collective strengths to

Meet Our Steering Committee

Dr. Gabino Aguirre, LUCHA

Vanessa Bechtel, Ventura County Community Foundation

Terrel Harrison, City of Oxnard

Dr. Cesar Morales, VCOE

Mike Pettit, County of Ventura

Mike Sedell, Community Member

Dan Singer, City of Santa Paula

Rigoberto Vargas, County of Ventura Public Health

Non-voting members that provide support to the Steering Committee:

Ashley Bautista, County of Ventura

Rosa Gonzales, County of Ventura

Ashley Humes, County of Ventura

Jeffrey Lambert, Ventura County Community Foundation

Jackie Nuñez, County of Ventura

Calleen O’Neall, Ventura County Community Foundation

Meet Our Subcommittee Co-Chairs

Philanthropic Coordination
Claudia Armann, McCune Foundation

Equity and Inclusion Subcommittee
Genevieve Flores-Haro, MICOP

Education & Outreach
Jack Hinojosa, Child Development Resources

Business/Economic Groups

Faith-Based Organizations

PR, Marketing & Media Co-chair
Ashley Bautista, County of Ventura

Community-Based Organizations
Sevet Johnson, County of Ventura
Sonia Kroth, County of Ventura Human Services