04.01.2020

NEW YORK -- On national Census Day, a date created by the U.S. Census Bureau to encourage every person living in the United States, Puerto Rico, and its territories to fill out the survey intended to inform political and economic resource distribution, the Center for Popular Democracy released the following statement:

“For months, we’ve been preparing our network of grassroots organizations across the country in their efforts to get our communities counted in the 2020 Census. There is an estimated $1.5 trillion a year in federal funding at stake - this is about constitutionally-mandated political power and bringing much-needed resources that back to our communities. That includes Medicaid, SNAP, Head Start, unemployment benefits, Section 8 Housing vouchers, school lunch programs and essential services for students, seniors, and disabled veterans. When our communities are counted, we are guaranteed representation in the federal government whose job it is to center our voices.

“In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we understand the urgency for shifting our strategies to engage hard-to-count communities and hold the U.S. Census Bureau accountable to the same standard. This call to action goes beyond pen to paper, there are entire groups of people that have absorbed attacks from this administration focused on silencing and erasing us. We fought at the Supreme Court of the United States to remove the citizenship question, a harmful tactic used to induce fear in our loved ones, and won. Our voices matter, the members of our network - people of color, immigrants, people with low incomes - matter.”

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