The Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference is partnering with the National Indian Urban Family Coalition (NUIFC) to promote and help Native Americans to complete their 2020 census forms in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. In addition, a team of laity have been setting up at various events around both cities to do nonpartisan voter registration. The NUIFC has targeted 17 cities to raise Native American participation. OIMC’s program is called Rock the Native Vote/Census2020.
In 
2010, 4.9 percent of Native Americans and Alaska Natives were omitted from the census, making them the most undercounted racial-ethnic demographic. Today, more than 60 percent of Native Americans live in urban areas.
“For the past 10 years, due to a large undercount of our regional population in the 2010 Census, we’ve all been living with decreased amounts of money available for schools, highways, public safety, health care and other important issues,” said Gary Batton, chief of the Choctaw Nation on the Tribe’s website. “The undercount occurred because many of the residents of our respective jurisdictions did not respond to the U.S. Census. Our artificially low population count, in turn, has led to smaller federal and state grants being made available to us to accomplish important things in our jurisdictions. We need to do everything possible to plan and organize in advance of the 2020 Census, to prevent a repeat occurrence.”
The funding has assisted OIMC to pay people to set up and enlist individuals in both registration for voting and helping with Census2020. Funds have also been used for public and social media awareness to help people understand the great need to complete the census forms, which were received on March 12, 2020, in households.
Roxanna Foster, a member of North Oklahoma City Fellowship, is coordinating the effort. She is managing approxima
tely 14 people in both cities. The funding will go through June.
The workers have set up at powwows, Indian taco sales, wild onion dinners, student events on college campuses and Indian clinics.
“This is the first-ever Urban Indian civic engagement project, funded by the National Urban Indian Family Coalition and our funding partners,” said Janeen Comenote, executive director of NUIFC. “The Oklahoma City Rock the Native Vote was specifically identified as one that has a deep reach in the community, a history of community organizing, service and an understanding of the relationship between elected office and resources to improve the lives of their constituencies.”
