SAN DIEGO, CA — Today is Census Day, the day by which every household in the country should have received an invitation to participate in the decennial census. With social distancing and stay-at-home orders across the state, Alliance San Diego staff is leading the effort to contact San Diegans in hard-to-count areas to remind them that now, more than ever, participating in the 2020 Decennial Census is vital to get the resources our communities need.
Census data is used to fund research and programs that provide essential information for our public health system and services for our communities. Census data also determines political representation in Sacramento and Washington, DC, which will impact how our government responds to risks, like COVID 19.
Alliance San Diego is part of the Count Me 2020 Coalition, a group of over 100 organizations working to educate and mobilize residents in hard-to-count areas of our region.
San Diegans can complete the census questionnaire on the Census 2020 website by responding to a few simple questions. They can also respond by phone in thirteen different languages.
Christopher Rice Wilson, associate director of Alliance San Diego, said:
“This public health crisis is a stark reminder of what’s at stake when it comes to counting everyone who lives in our region and determining the type of resources needed for everything from education and infrastructure, to public health and political representation. We have shifted our outreach team to work remotely and we are committed to contacting residents in hard-to-count and vulnerable communities, especially during these uncertain times. We know what’s at stake and we are working hard to make sure all members of our community get counted. That is the only way to get the representation and resources we need and deserve to help people in our region thrive.”
About Alliance San Diego
Alliance San Diego is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) community empowerment organization working to ensure that all people can achieve their full potential in an environment of harmony, safety, equality, and justice. Our mission is to provide a means for diverse individuals and organizations to share information, collaborate on issues and mobilize for change in the pursuit of social justice, especially in low-income communities and communities of color. We pursue this mission through targeted civic engagement programs and strategic coalitions that focus on specific issues and policy reforms.
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