Access Strategies Fund (ASF) is a small, family foundation based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Fund envisions a Massachusetts where every individual and group in our society has the power, respect and resources to improve their lives, family and community and where diverse groups are driving policy at every decision-making table. Prior to the 2010 Census then director Kelly Bates noted that Census counts would be used to determine how some $400 billion in annual federal spending would be allocated. She realized this was an issue with consequences for all of her grantees, particularly those working in historically marginalized communities. Kelly learned that each person counted by the census would result in some $2,000 annually in federal money to the state for hospitals, schools, job training, public works and emergency services. These services were desperately needed in the minority, low-income and immigrant communities ASF focused on, and precisely those communities that had been hit especially hard in the economic downturn.

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