Paul Ong, research professor and director of the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at UCLA Luskin, spoke to news outlets about the shortened timeline for participating in the 2020 U.S. Census. The deadline moved from Oct. 31 to Sept. 30, which will “massively and adversely hurt low-income people of color,” Ong told the Orange County Register. “It’s really disappointing to see the Census Bureau ending it one month earlier given the setbacks with the pandemic that already put us on track for a flawed census. The one additional month could have at least somewhat closed the gap. But we’ve lost that time now.” In a Politico story on state and local efforts to encourage census participation, Ong said, “If we don’t have an accurate count, and if we particularly miss the disadvantaged populations who are in need, then it’s those neighborhoods that will be cheated out of money that should be going there.”