By Julie Menin, Director of NYC Census 2020 AND Kristina Newman-Scott, President of BRIC
With COVID-19 at the top of everyone’s minds, it’s important to take a moment to appreciate and thank the workers that are keeping our city going. From our doctors, nurses and health officials, to bus drivers and conductors, to the essential workers keeping our city running, we’re relying on our public services more and more every day.
And now, they’re counting on us.
Because to keep our public services fully funded and working for the next decade, we need to make sure all of us are counted in the 2020 Census.
This is why NYC Census 2020 and BRIC partnered to create a new PSA demonstrating why doing the census is one of the most important ways to support our communities in these difficult times.
With the coronavirus introducing new challenges to our communities, the census could not be more important. Now more than ever, we are seeing how much we all rely on our public services: our hospitals, healthcare, roads and bridges, transit, schools and countless other programs.
The census is also vital because census data is being used to determine our responses to crises. The communities hit hardest by COVID-19 are some of the most historically undercounted in the census. If New York City does not have a complete count, it hurts the funding, political representation, and data needed to serve these communities.
Luckily, since the census is available online, over the phone, and by mail, you can get counted on your own from home. In other words, you can still fight for social justice while social distancing.
“Making Sense of the Census” is a weekly column from Julie Menin, Director of NYC Census 2020. Every week we will be publishing pieces from Julie and guest authors laying out the facts and answering tough questions about this year’s census. Fill out the census now at my2020census.gov.
