Census 2020: Accurately Counting Chicagoland

Oswaldo Alvarez

Oswaldo Alvarez is the State of Illinois’ Census Director and helps oversee all operations including grant management, marketing, government relations. He has over 15 years of experience in the non-profit sector - ranging from ground-level program implementation to philanthropy and public policy implementation. Before joining the State as the Census Director, Alvarez served a Program Officer at Grand Victoria Foundation, where he oversaw the placed based funding in Elgin, Illinois. A fluent Spanish speaker, he earned his Master's in Social Policy from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor in Economics and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Anita Banerji

Anita leads Forefront’s Democracy Initiative, Census 2020 outreach, and civic engagement work in Illinois. Having worked on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. for a U.S. Senator and the Illinois State Government for a State Senator, Anita has a penchant for policy; she enjoys working in advocacy, and her nonprofit experience has provided her the opportunity to focus on social policy issues over the past two decades, while learning to build public-private partnerships.

Most recently, Anita served as Legislative Director for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, as a political appointee for Governor Pat Quinn. She also led the Cook County and statewide sugary sweetened beverage campaign in Illinois through the American Heart Association, bringing education and awareness across the State to communities regarding the impacts of too much sugar. Anita is a 2010 IL Women’s Institute for Leadership alum, a 2019 Edgar Fellows’ alum, a Member of Cook County’s Community Advisory Panel, a Commissioner for the Cook County Census Commission, and a new Board Member of IL Public Narrative.  

Commissioner Stanley Moore

Stanley S. Moore was appointed Cook County Commissioner of the 4th District in April 2013. He was reelected by his district constituents in November 2018 to serve his second full 4-year term. Commissioner Moore has quickly become a respected and progressive leader within government and among the seventeen (17) members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. He ranks 7th in seniority as a seated commissioner and currently serves as the chairman of the following Cook County Board of Commissioner Committees: Asset Management, Contract Compliance, Criminal Justice, and Law Enforcement. In addition, Commissioner Moore serves as the Committee Chairman of the Law Enforcement for the Forest Preserve District Board of Commissioners.

Commissioner Moore has an active leadership role in the Census for all Illinois residents to be educated to fully participate in the 2020 Census. He was selected by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to serve on the Illinois Complete Count Commission and as chairman of the Cook County Complete Count Census Commission. He is committed for every resident in every community across the state to be accurately counted during the federal decennial census.

Since his appointment as chairman of the Cook County Complete Count Census Commission, Commissioner Moore has led a diverse and inclusive effort between Illinois elected officials and local Complete Count Census Committees to secure $4 million dollars in the 2019 State of Illinois budget and $29 million dollars in the State of Illinois 2020 budget for statewide census outreach and educational efforts. The funding is the largest per person allocation made by any state to fund the 2020 Census outreach.