2026 Black Census Project Press Kit

The Black Census Project is the largest survey of Black people in America, a powerful space for Black communities to dream, define, and demand the democracy we rightfully deserve.

Now in its third iteration, the 2026 Black Census Project launches during a period when Black communities face escalating political attacks, economic instability, and systemic erasure. In this moment, Black people across this nation are rising up to build a future that values our humanity and brilliance, while continuing to lead the resistance with vision, setting the course for what freedom must look like for this generation and the next.

This 2026 Black Census Project is a radical invitation to join Black Futures Lab as we stand on business to collect 300,000 responses that will transform collective imagination into actionable data that shapes policy, fuels organizing, and reclaims narrative power.

All responses are kept fully anonymous, securely owned by Black Futures Lab, and never shared individually. Together, this information will help us cast a vision that advances our collective work to build lasting power for Black communities in this country.

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This is how we turn pain into dreams, dreams into demands, demands into policy and policy into power. We share the facts that shape policy and turn information into action. ​ – ​ Kristin Powell, Executive Director of Black Futures Lab and Black to the Future Action Fund

“We’re under so much attack that it’s robbing us of the space and the freedom to dream and the right to dream, and that is actually a tool of fascism and authoritarianism to keep us so underwater, so under siege, that we can’t stand up, much less fight back or dream. Now is absolutely the time to build new and to build better than we’ve ever been before, and Black people have to be at the center.” - Alexsis Rodgers, Managing Director of Strategy and Impact, Black Futures Lab

Taking the Black Census is a powerful act of a resistance and a way to make our demands visible. When our power tries to erase us, we organize, we resist, and we make ourselves impossible to ignore. ​ – Angela Rye, Board Member, Black to the Future Action Fun

About Black Futures Lab

Black Futures Lab transforms Black communities into constituencies that change the way power operates—locally, statewide and nationally. The problems facing our communities are complex—the solutions require experimentation, innovation and political power. We deserve a government that represents us, policies that improve our lives, and politics that reflect our lives.

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