$5 Million Census Grant Program Administered by Maryland Dept. of Planning

The 2020 Census Grant Program (or the "Program") was created by the General Assembly in 2018 as a vehicle to support the accurate counting of the population of the State and its local jurisdictions and the collection of basic demographic and housing information of the population of the State for the 2020 Census.

The Program offers matching grants to non-profit organizations and local jurisdictions in their sponsorship of activities designed to support successful enumeration and data collection efforts during the 2020 Census. Funds are administered by the Maryland Department of Planning (MDP); the statutorily-defined Census Grant Panel, which awards the grants, is staffed by the Department of Legislative Services (DLS).

Full Program Guidelines are available in the left-hand sidebar of the Maryland Census Grants webpage.

Grant awards will range from a suggested minimum of $25,000 to a suggested maximum of $250,000. Grantees are required to provide a dollar-for-dollar match, which may be either cash or in-kind, as further defined in the Program Guidelines.

Funds awarded will be available no sooner than July 1, 2019 and must be expended by June 1, 2020.

Non-profit organizations and local jurisdictions are eligible to apply for Program funding.

The Census Grant Panel will award grants to eligible applicants to conduct census outreach activities throughout Maryland to accomplish the following goals:
• Ensure a fair, accurate and inclusive census count for Maryland.
• Increase the self-response rates of hard-to-count communities and populations in Maryland (see below).

Priority will be given to projects that focus on hard-to-count communities and populations in Maryland, as defined in the Program Guidelines.

Complete the application here.

If you have questions, or for assistance in completing the application, contact Randall Nixon at randall.nixon2@maryland.gov or 410-767-8796.