The 2020 Census: Why it matters, and how you can help: Morristown, Nov. 13 – Morristown Green

From the Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center:

How will we ALL work together to get out the count?

Please join the Town of Morristown, Wind of the Spirit and the US Census Bureau for this Stakeholder Meeting and learn how you can help–

WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, at 7:00 PM

WHERE: Morristown Senior Center, Town Hall, 3rd Floor, 200 South St., Morristown

For info and to RSVP, kindly respond to this note, email census@windofthespirit.net
or contact Missy Elias at 201-220-4495.

Census 2020 is right around the corner. Here in New Jersey, if we ALL are not counted, the entire state will suffer. Our schools, roads, environment, healthcare, housing, food resources, social services, senior services–all depend on billions of federal dollars.

Important planning data will be lost. Representation will be lost– it happened in New Jersey in 2010.

Morristown is among many NJ municipalities believed to suffer an under-count in 2010. A municipality with a healthy representation of Latinos, renters, African Americans, seniors and young children, we are looking for ways to reach hard-to-count (HTC) members of our residents, those elsewhere in Morris County and across the state.

That’s why our initiative of a united effort to Get Out the Count in Morris County is centered in Morristown.

The New Jersey effort to reach HTC populations is led by the NJ State Complete Count Commission and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Wind of the Spirit, a US Census Bureau Complete Count Committee and member of the Census 2020 NJ Coalition Steering Committee, is spearheading Morris County efforts to identify and engage all HTC communities–low-income households, our Black and African-American, Asian and Latino and LGBTQ populations, immigrants, non-native English speakers, young children, our seniors, renters, the disabled, veterans and the homeless.

We likewise coordinate efforts in Warren, Sussex, Union, Essex, Hudson and Somerset Counties, and share our models statewide.

The 2020 Census includes new challenges to collecting data. A digital platform will be introduced to the census process in March 2020, a system that raises concerns about privacy, cyber security and universal access in the face of an increasing digital divide.

Although a citizenship question will not be included, the lasting effects of that conversation and current events have caused nationwide distrust of government, and fears, unfounded or not, have grown exponentially nationwide.

We need your help. Like Wind of the Spirit, you and the organizations you participate in or lead are among trusted entities and individuals with well-established ties to, and frequent contact with community residents, including communicating in non-native languages. We ALL play a critical role in dramatically increasing participation for a fair and accurate Census 2020 count.

PLEASE JOIN US WEDNESDAY, NOV. 13 AT 7PM AT THE MORRISTOWN TOWN HALL, 200 SOUTH ST, MORRISTOWN, NJ 07960.