The Garifuna Experience Podcast

Episode 58: Data Equity, the 2030 Census, and Redistricting Advocacy

• Jose Francisco Avila • Episode 58

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In this episode of The Garifuna Experience Podcast, host José Francisco Ávila breaks down the next two critical pillars of the Garifuna VOICE civic engagement initiative: Data Equity and Redistricting Advocacy.

Why are we talking about the 2030 Census and 2031 redistricting in 2026? Because the battle lines for community resources and political power are being drawn right now. From local policy fights like NYC’s Local Law 9 to critical budget realities in Albany, we explore what it takes to protect our neighborhoods from being fragmented and politically erased.

We also sound the alarm on a brand-new June 2026 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report warning that the federal government is drastically scaling back vital census testing—putting communities of color and distinct diaspora groups like the Garifuna right in the crosshairs of a massive undercount.

The census is more than a count; it’s a declaration of our presence and power. Tune in to find out how we are fighting to ensure our community is counted fully, accurately, and unapologetically. ¡Garnagu, abahüdura nama!

Resources:

Books by José Francisco Ávila

 

 

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HOST: Mabuiga. Welcome back to The Garifuna Experience Podcast. I’m your host, José Francisco Ávila.

Today, we are turning our attention to two critical pillars of the Garifuna VOICE, the intiative that determines our political power and our community's survival: Data Equity & the 2030 Census, and Redistricting Advocacy.

Let’s be clear about what this means:

  • Data Equity is about our citywide campaign to ensure Garifunas are accurately counted as Garifuna, rather than being erased or lost in a "General Hispanic/Latino" checkbox.
  • Redistricting Advocacy is about creating a dedicated Task Force to monitor the 2031–2032 redistricting process, ensuring our Garifuna Communities of Interest are not fragmented, divided, and politically diluted. Specially now that “majority-minority” House districts are being redrawn in the middle of the decade.

[SEGMENT 1: The National Stakes & The Voting Rights Act]

HOST: Why is this so urgent right now? Look no further than the recent 6–3 Supreme Court ruling that struck down Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district, dismantling vital protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

While that might seem like a localized legal battle far from New York, it has massive, seismic implications for culturally differentiated communities across this nation. When federal protections are weakened, the responsibility falls squarely on us to organize, protect our Community of Interest, and demand our fair share of representation.

Listen to Episode 57: The Voting Rights Act of 1965: An Explainer

[SEGMENT 2: The Fight for the 2030 Census in New York]

HOST: On April 1st—National Census Day—New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, alongside fellow Council Members and civic engagement leaders, held a major press conference. They drew a line in the sand, pushing back against efforts to weaponize the 2030 census with a citizenship question, and calling for aggressive, proactive investment ahead of the 2030 count.

Fortunately, the New York City Council has already started laying the brickwork. Last November, the Council passed Local Law 9 of 2026, sponsored by Speaker Julie Menin. This law requires the Mayor to establish a temporary Office of the Census, tasked specifically with maximizing local participation.

Speaker Menin also stepped up at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2026 Executive Budget Proposal, calling for a $40 million investment in the state budget for early Census preparation. Why?Because the Governor’s Executive Budget only included a meager $3 million.

As Speaker Menin rightly put it:

"A complete and accurate Census count is critical to how resources are allocated and how communities are represented across our city. The Census is about more than numbers—it is about power, representation, and resources."

She’s exactly right. The groundwork we lay over the next four years will mean the difference between a fair count or New York losing even more congressional seats and federal dollars.

[SEGMENT 3: Budget Realities & Local Redistricting Updates]

HOST: Now, let’s look at the numbers. The State Fiscal Year 2026–2027 New York State Budget officially allocated that $3 million for statewide census planning and preparation.

While advocates—including myself—pushed hard for up to $30 million to fully fund a dedicated state support office and expand door-to-door grassroots outreach, this $3 million will at least kickstart vital operations. Specifically, it will fund:

  • A Dedicated Commission responsible for strategic planning, community outreach, and cross-agency coordination.
  • Public Education Campaigns to actively drive up response rates in historically low-return areas.
  • Direct Grants to counties, cities, townships, and tribal governments to support the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA)—which ensures every single housing unit is actually on the map to receive a questionnaire.

The State Senate also passed Bill S6898 (also known as the New York Counts Act), a comprehensive Census 2030 education and outreach bill sponsored by State Senator Jeremy Cooney and Assemblymember Landon Dais, authorizing a complete count commission and dedicated funding for non-profits. We owe them a debt of gratitude.

And the gears are already moving on the redistricting front. On Tuesday, June 16, 2026, New York’sIndependent Redistricting Commission met in Albany to approve its $953,133 budget for the new fiscal year and review population demographics.

While the commissioners avoided public debate on a pending constitutional amendment that would limit their powers strictly to analyzing data, holding hearings, and submitting just one set of maps to the legislature, the message behind closed doors is clear: the battle lines for how our communities will be sliced and diced, are being drawn right now.

By the way, that  constitutional amendment will change New York’s redistricting process, joining a national battle over drawing congressional boundaries. According to Politico, the amendment would remove the state constitution’s prohibition on mid-decade changes, let Democrats approve maps with a simple majority vote, and delete a prohibition on maps drawn to benefit political parties.

“The proposed amendment would reorganize the constitutional requirements for new districts. Maps that are drawn with the goal of reducing minority voting rights would still be banned, though existing language would be rewritten to avoid conflicts with the Supreme Court’s recent decision on that front. And districts would still need to be contiguous.

But the proposal would delete language that bans districts drawn “for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candidates or political parties.” That removal would allow for a more aggressive gerrymander than anything attempted by New York Democrats in the past.

The amendment would leave the independent commission tasked with drawing the maps intact.

Early organizing is the only way to ensure the Garifuna people are no longer "invisible" in official data.

[SEGMENT 4: Alarm Bells from the GAO (The 2026 Field Test)]

HOST: But we have a major, unfolding challenge at the federal level that we cannot ignore. Just a few weeks ago, on June 4th, 2026, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a warning report that should alarm every single one of us.

The Office warned that the Census Bureau has drastically narrowed the scope of its vital 2026 Census Test. This test is the first of two major field operations on the road to 2030, designed to prove that new counting methods and technologies actually work before the 2030 Census.

The Bureau has reduced planned test sites from six to two and 19 planned operational activities to nine, leaving fewer opportunities to evaluate the new approaches the agency hopes to use in 2030. 

These preparations matter far beyond the test itself, because the once-a-decade count determines how congressional seats are apportioned, how district lines are drawn, and how hundreds of billions of dollars in annual federal funding are distributed to states and communities.

Instead of testing across six diverse sites as originally planned, the Bureau quietly cut four locations: Colorado Springs, Western North Carolina, Western Texas, and critical Tribal Lands within Arizona. Why does this matter to us in New York? Because they dropped the exact rural and indigenous areas that are traditionally among the hardest to count, leaving only Huntsville, Alabama, and Spartanburg, South Carolina as test sites. Hint: Garifunas are part of the Hard To Count Communities. 

Right now, from May through August 2026, residents in those two remaining areas are responding online, with census workers following up in person through August 31st to complete the test by September 30th.

By scaling down so aggressively, the Bureau is finalizing the design of the 2030 Census without real evidence that their methods work in hard-to-count communities. When the federal government cuts corners on testing, it is communities of color, immigrants, and  culturally differentiated groups like the Garifuna who bear the impact of the inevitable miscounts and undercounts.

[SEGMENT 5: The Garifuna Call to Action]

HOST: As we embark on our third consecutive census cycle of education and outreach to New Yorkers of Garifuna descent, let this be a reminder: the census is not merely a count. It is a declaration of our presence, our power, and our right to resources.

When our communities are undercounted, we are rendered invisible. We get smaller classrooms, fewer community health resources, and less political leverage.

The decennial census is a defining event for the broader diaspora, but for the Garifuna community, it is a fight for recognition. We must prepare today to ensure our numbers are captured accurately and faithfully. The Garifuna Coalition stands shoulder-to-shoulder with New York’s civic and social leaders in this effort.

The decennial census is an important event for the Garifuna community, and the 2030 Census will be defining for us! To be ready for it we need to begin to prepare today to make sure that our numbers are captured and recorded accurately and faithfully by a federal government that must represent all of us!

To every New Yorker of Garifuna descent: make yourself known. Be counted fully, accurately, and unapologetically.!

[OUTRO]

HOST: And that wraps up another episode of The Garifuna Experience Podcast.

Thank you for listening. Remember: the future of the Garifuna people is in our hands. Our vote is our voice, and our voice is our power.

Until next time, stay united, stay proud. Sungubei Lidan Aban. Ayo!

HOST: You can find new episodes of The Garifuna Experience Podcast every Tuesday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Please take a moment to rate and review the podcast—it genuinely helps our history, our stories, and our voices reach the world. Have a great week!

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José Francisco Ávila

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