The Clock is Ticking in the Final Push for Lower Manhattan’s Participation in the 2020 Census
Did you know that every 10 years, the United States conducts a survey to count everyone living in the country on April 1st, regardless of country of origin, native language, or why they are in the country? This decennial survey is more than just a headcount - it includes people of all ages, including visitors, foster children, immigrants, citizens and non-citizens.
The data collected from the Census is also used to decide how over $675 billion of federal funding is allocated towards critical programs such as education, healthcare, hospitals, senior centers, transportation and infrastructure, public housing, and other essential programs in your community. Many critical programs that rely on these resources include education, healthcare, hospitals, senior centers, transportation and infrastructure, and public housing.
According to www.nyc.gov, Lower Manhattan has a self-response rate of less than 56%. The lower-income communities are often undercounted especially young children and babies, which is why it is vital for them to have access to government resources. Given this low statistic, it is no surprise to see various community based organizations educating the importance of completing the 2020 Census to residents of Lower Manhattan nowadays. Welcome to Chinatown also understands the importance and benefits of counting every community in the Census, which is why we’re collaborating with local restaurants and businesses to expand the outreach efforts within Lower Manhattan. It is now a race against the clock to get those responses in by the new, earlier deadline of September 30th.
Lower Manhattan has the highest concentration of Asian Americans out of all racial groups and is historically known to be a hard-to-reach population. Asian Americans reported a lower likelihood of filling out the census than any other demographic group as confirmed by the AAPI Data survey. Research estimates that just under one-third of Asian immigrants who arrived in the United States within the last 10 years, will have little to no knowledge of the census. Even though Asian Americans are the only racial group in the U.S. who are majority foreign-born, they are unduly represented among immigrants who arrived in the U.S. after 2010. These immigrants will require more education and outreach regarding the decennial census than those who arrived before 2010.
But why are Asian Americans reported as least likely of all racial groups to participate in the 2020 Census? According to the 2019 Census Bureau Report, Asian Americans are:
concerned their information “will be used against them”,
unfamiliar with the census and its purpose,
skeptical that the data will actually impact and/or benefit them in any way, and
experiencing difficulty in understanding due to the significant language barrier.
With so much at stake, it is pertinent we are doing everything we can to ensure everyone in the community is accounted for in the shortened timeline. We need your help to achieve a more accurate count of the Asian American communities in NYC and ensure they get their fair share of federal funding and political representation in the next decade.
Don’t delay, fill out the 2020 Census today at https://my2020census.gov/ and spread the word to your family. There are only 9 questions that will determine your community’s future for the next 10 years.
