By next Wednesday, most U.S. households will have received their Census 2010 questionnaire. Now it's going to take a group effort to make sure everyone mail them in.
In Census 2000, there were gross undercounts of African American and immigrant communities that cost billions of dollars in lost funding to local communities. We're talking about lost funding for critical services like school lunch, unemployment insurance, and children's healthcare. Today, as cash-strapped states, counties and cities face severe cuts to education, transportation, medical and other vital social services, it is more critical than ever that federal funding reflects an accurate count of everyone living and working in our communities.
The Basic Facts on Census 2010
- The Bureau will mail census forms on March 15 and they will start arriving to households on March 17.
- The form will take only about 10 minutes to complete.
- The Bureau will send out bilingual census forms in some areas. (In other areas, families will need to call an 800 number to request translation assistance.)
- Census takers will follow up with households that do not respond.
We need your help to ensure everyone is counted and all dollars are fairly distributed in 2010.
As we know through our work on immigration reform, decisions are made by the people who show up. Elected officials listen to numbers, and an accurate count of the true size of the immigrant community in this country will add weight to our fights for comprehensive immigration reform, better jobs, healthcare reform and improved schools.
Please join us in making sure everyone stands up to be counted in this year's census. To ensure that we have an accurate count of the true numbers of the Latino community, we have developed a variety of tools for to share with SEIU members and community partners. Sample census forms, action tools, FAQ's and events are all available on http://hagasecontar.yaeshora.info. Please join us in making sure everyone stands up to be counted in this year's census.
Learn more about the campaign here: http://hagasecontar.yaeshora.info/english
