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