Mayor Bill de Blasio, City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and The City University of New York (CUNY) today announced an unprecedented $19 million investment in local community-based organizations to engage in mass education and mobilization efforts around the 2020 Census. This joint investment by the de Blasio Administration and the City Council marks New York 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,” said Mayor de Blasio. “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.”
“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 services, including for hospitals, schools, roads, affordable housing, nutrition programs, and more. A complete count will also send a strong message to the Trump Administration, which is continuously attacking and trying to withhold resources from our diverse communities: We are not invisible and will not be intimidated. The Council is proud to contribute $10 million in funding for the community awards program, in addition to the nearly $4 million that we allocated to community-based groups doing census work in August. Partnering with community-based organizations who know their communities best will help us ensure that we get a complete and accurate count in the 2020 Census,” said Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
“Without an accurate Census count, New Yorkers will be unable to receive our fair share of resources and access to economic opportunities,” said J. Phillip Thompson, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives. “This historic investment in community-based census education and organizing will help dispel fear-mongering efforts by the Trump Administration designed to keep our immigrant communities – the backbone of our City – from participating. It will also ensure that we are engaging critically important but historically under-counted and under-represented communities in the Census by leveraging some of the most trusted voices within these communities.”
“The upcoming 2020 census is critical to the future of New York City,” said Julie Menin, Director of NYC Census 2020, an office established by Mayor de Blasio this January and dedicated to ensuring every New Yorker is counted. “Our historic joint investment of $19 million for community-based organizations affirms our commitment to counting every single New Yorker and reflects our belief that CBOs are our neighborhood’s most trusted messengers. In many ways a test of our city’s resilience, the 2020 census is also a welcome opportunity for the city to forge new partnerships and to strengthen the fabric that weaves together our many diverse communities,” said Menin.
“Today’s investment from the Council, Mayor’s Office, and CUNY is a historic partnership between three of the city’s most important institutions that will play a major factor in combatting the fear and misinformation emanating from the Trump administration on the 2020 Census. As Co-Chair of the Council’s 2020 Census Task Force, I look forward to working with Director Menin and CUNY to ensure that funding from this program goes to those best suited to ensuring a complete count – the non-profits and community organizers already on the ground working to help our hardest to count communities,” said New York City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, Co-Chair of the Council’s 2020 Census Task Force.
“The census is more than a simple count of persons. It will determine the economic and political future of the United States for the next ten years,” said City Council Member Carlos Menchaca, Co-Chair of the Council’s Census 2020 Task Force. “Those are the stakes, and the City Council understood this a long time ago. It’s why I and my fellow co-Chair Council Member Carlina Rivera pushed our Council colleagues to add $14 million to the City budget, all of which is going towards funding community-based organizations. This is a down payment on our future, and a promise to the next generation that they will have the tools to make our City stronger than ever.”
The goal of the awards program is to ensure full participation in the 2020 Census by supporting a large network of local community-based organizations considered messengers of important and sensitive information within New York City’s diverse communities.
The census determines how more than $650 billion in federal funds for public education, public housing, roads and bridges, and more, are distributed annually throughout the country, as well as the number of seats each state is allocated in the House of Representatives (and thus, the Electoral College). Another undercount could cost the State of New York up to two congressional seats, emphasizing the importance of a complete and accurate count of New York City.
In the 2010 Census, the city’s self-response rate was approximately 62 percent, compared to 76 percent, the approximate national average. This difference suggests that New York City has already been significantly undercounted compared to the rest of the United States, and is at risk of being even further undercounted in 2020. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city’s self-response rate will only be 58 percent next year.
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