IMPACCT Brooklyn is committed to Make Brooklyn Count in the 2020 Census.
In late December, IMPACCT Brooklyn hosted the New York Immigration Coalition census roundtable discussion with several members of the Sterling Network. Key members of IMPACCT Brooklyn’s staff are also active in the Brooklyn Borough President’s Census Complete Count committee, on the Marketing Working group, to increase census outreach. Our goal is to increase 2020 Census participation throughout Brooklyn – or, in other words, Make Brooklyn Count.
Many census tracts in Brooklyn had historically low participation in the 2010 Census, including BedStuy’s tract 255 (39.8% response rate) & tract 283 (36% response rate), as well as many other areas IMPACCT Brooklyn works with. Federal funds, grants and support to states, counties and communities are based on population totals and breakdowns by sex, age, race and other factors, which the Census measures. Low response rates keep those population totals down and skew these additional figures, which prevents communities from getting necessary funding. Our goal is to ensure these underserved communities get the support and federal funding they deserve by reminding residents that responses are confidential and response rates directly correspond to funding for a number of programs.
Going forward, IMPACCT Brooklyn will take a number of steps to encourage Census 2020 participation, including specialized staff training, Census-specific events throughout the community, distributing Census information to central neighborhood meeting places, and incentivizing the Census process for the general public.
The final day to participate in the 2020 Census is April 1st, 2020.
If you’d like to get involved with IMPACCT Brooklyn’s work with the 2020 Census, click here.
