LOOKING TO 2020
BY BILL PARRY
The city announced an unprec-edented
new grants program
that will engage in mass edu-cation
and mobilization efforts
across the five boroughs to ensure a
complete and accurate count during
the 2020 Census.
The joint investment if $19 million
by the de Blasio administration and the
City Council marks the city’s first-ever
community awards program focused on
census-related organizing and outreach,
and the largest such investment by any
city nationwide.
“New York City will not be intimidated.
We must stand and be counted,” Mayor
de Blasio said. “With the help of our
partners and grassroots organizing, I’m
confident we can mobilize all of New York
City’s many communities and respond to
next year’s census in record numbers.”
Community-based organizations will
be selected on the basis of where and
with whom they already have a strong
history of working, ensuring that awards
will be prioritized to those who serve
communities most at risk of being un-dercounted
in 2020. The organizations
are uniquely set up to fight the spread of
misinformation, convey the importance
of the census, and help bridge the digital
divide that might prevent New Yorkers
from participating in the 2020 census.
“Getting an accurate count in the
upcoming census is critical for the
future of our city, since it determines
how hundreds of billions of federal
dollars are distributed for basic ser-vices,
including for hospitals, schools,
roads, affordable housing, nutrition
programs and more,” Council Speaker
Corey Johnson said. “A complete count
will also send a strong message to
the Trump administration, which is
continually attacking and trying to
withhold resources from our diverse
communities: We are not invisible and
we will not be intimidated.”
20 OCTOBER 2019 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
A proper count is imperative in that
the census will determine how much
representation the city has in the U.S.
House of Representatives.
“Census data affects the very core of
our democracy and critical representa-tion
in government,” Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney said. “People in every
corner of this nation rely on accurate
census data for our rights and wellbe-ing,
and our communities must have
the tools and resources necessary for
an accurate count.”
The 2010 Census saw dramatic
undercounts in neighborhoods with
particularly high immigrant populations
such as East Elmhurst and Jackson
Heights, where thousands were over-looked.
“Our communities’ resources and
representation crucially depend on it,”
state Senator Jessica Ramos said. “I
urge New Yorkers to join us in filling out
the census form, volunteering to help
our neighbors participate, and applying
City makes $19 million investment
in local community-based
organizations to bolster efforts
towards an accurate count.
for local jobs on the census website in
order to ensure a full count.”
The City University of New York is a
key programmatic partner in the effort
and it will train hundreds of students
to serve as culturally and linguistically
diverse ambassadors to promote the
census, educate fellow students, fac-ulty
and staff and play a key role in
NYC Census’ field activities in targeted
communities.
“I cannot stress the importance of
education and organization around
the participation of all our community
members in Census 2020, and we
all must band together to encourage
all New Yorkers to come out and be
counted,” Assemblywoman Catalina
Cruz said. “We cannot allow Trump’s
scare tactics to devastate our com-munities
any longer. We need full
participation in the 2020 Census in
order to guarantee that we receive the
proper funding and representation at
the federal level.”
Community News
Shutterstock
City announces $19M investment to support
community census education and organizing
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