BRONX TIMES REPORTER, JANUARY 3 BTR 1-FEBRUARY 6, 2020 19
HIGHER ED TODAY
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The Census 2020 count may be
the most important and challenging
population survey that our country,
state and city have ever undertaken.
New York has historically been undercounted,
but this decennial tally
is taking place under particularly
challenging circumstances.
Undercounting can deprive us of
our rightful representation in Congress
along with millions of dollars
in federal support for public education.
Census data impacts funding
for the federal Pell Grant program,
adult education grants and a host
of other services that are vital to
CUNY and other institutions of
higher education. The importance of
achieving a fair and complete count
of every New Yorker has prompted
the state and city governments to
commit significant resources and
coordinate stakeholders. On Martin
Luther King Jr. Day, Gov. Andrew
M. Cuomo announced the creation
of the Census Council, co-chaired
by Martin Luther King III, Lucy Liu
and Lin-Manuel Miranda, to act as
the state’s coordinating arm in the
effort.
The law is that every person
should be counted, regardless of citizenship
or immigration status. But
the current climate of fear within
immigrant communities poses a
challenge to that goal; it is a concern
that hits close to home for New
York and especially for us at CUNY.
More than a third of our students
were born outside the country. They
and their families live in communities
that our own faculty experts tell
us are designated “hard to count,”
which include highly mobile people,
non-native English speakers,
undocumented immigrants, people
of color, low-income people and students.
Fortunately, CUNY students,
who reflect the full range of New
York City’s diversity, are uniquely
positioned to help achieve a fair and
accurate census count. A team of 220
students, two thirds of whom speak
a language other than English,
were being trained this month, even
before the spring semester started
this week, to be deployed as part
of CUNY Census Corps. They will
work in paid part-time positions
from January to end of May, getting
out the count at CUNY colleges and
venturing into the hardest-to-count
neighborhoods to ensure that the
people who live in those communities
are acknowledged and counted.
Participation in this missioncritical
task will enable CUNY students
to develop their leadership,
problem solving, teamwork and
communication skills. Equally important,
they will learn firsthand
the vital importance of civic engagement
— a core value of public higher
education.
Our efforts are being guided
by CUNY data resources, including
a mapping tool created by our
Center for Urban Research at the
CUNY Graduate Center that is being
widely used in census outreach
efforts across the country.
CUNY is also proud to be working
closely with NYC Census 2020
to administer and oversee the contracts
that have been awarded to
more than 150 community-based organizations
that will be at the frontlines
of this year’s census-related
education and organizing.
The key to a complete census
count is a determined, full-scale
and efficient partnership among
the leaders of New York State and
City and their institutions. CUNY
is proud to be an important part of
this partnership. We are working
closely with all our government and
civic partners to carry out this very
consequential endeavor.
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