Building Political Power: Complete the 2020 Census Now

May 2, 2020 12:15 PM

If you haven’t already participated in the 2020 census, we strongly encourage you to complete your census questionnaire now. The results of the census are critical in determining your community’s political representation and getting access to federal funding over the next 10 years. 

There is a great risk that because of fear among immigrant communities and because of COVID-19 (which has made it impossible for census counters to go door to door to collect incomplete surveys), that people will go uncounted in the 2020 Census. When people are uncounted it has drastic and dangerous impacts.

In the last census in 2010, some experts estimate that as many as 2% of the African American and Latinx population was not counted in New York. While that may not sound like a lot, the result of such undercount cost New Yorkers billions of dollars in Federal funding, at least 5 seats in Congress, and several electoral votes.

Everyone should know that the census counts every person in the United States, regardless of their immigration status. By law, your census response cannot be used against you by any government agency including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

If we are counted, not only will we be adequately represented in the halls of Congress and in the Electoral College, but the practical result in your communities will be more federal funding for schools, roads and infrastructure, senior centers, and hundreds of other social services. 

You can respond online at www.2020census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020, or by mail.