With the aim of ensuring that every Brooklynite counts in Census 2020, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has announced new funding for non-profit organizations.
“We are pleased to announce that we are partnering with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams to distribute New York State funding for Census 2020 outreach in hard-to-count communities,” said Pastor Gilford Monrose, the St. Thomas-born director, Faith-Based & Clergy Initiatives, Office of Brooklyn Borough President, in a statement on Thursday.
Pastor Monrose disclosed that a minimum of $738,000 has been allocated by the State for Kings County nonprofits.
He said The Brooklyn Get Out the Count Grants program will provide grants from $5,000 to $50,000.
Monrose said that Brooklyn nonprofits serving hard-to-count populations can apply for the grants, with a deadline of Friday, Feb. 14 at 11:59 pm., at bcfny.org/
“Please note that all interested nonprofits must first complete the New York State pre-qualification process before applying to the Brooklyn Get Out the Count Grants program,” he said.
At the same time, Adams has been urging Brooklynites to attend 2020 Census job fairs, with the last one slated for Feb. 5 at Brooklyn Borough Hall.
Adams said the fairs are part of his #MakeBrooklynCount Initiative, a collaboration with the US Census Office and local community-based organizations “to ensure Brooklyn is accurately counted in the upcoming 2020 Census.”
According to Pastor Monrose, the job fairs “provide information to those interested in becoming a census worker.”
He said benefits include “a flexible work schedule, good weekly pay, and paid training.”
In 2018, Adams partnered with the Brooklyn Community Foundation to launch the Brooklyn Complete Count Committee, an alliance of organizations whose collective aim is to increase representation in the 2020 Census among traditionally undercounted communities, such as the elderly, low-income, undocumented and young individuals, as well as those whose first language is not English, Pastor Monrose said.
He also said the Faith-based Sub-Committee is looking for faith leaders and whose committee is responsible for creating and coordinating activities and materials that can be used by faith-based institutions in the borough “to promote 2020 Census awareness and participation.”
In early January, more than 160 community partners joined Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson in kicking off NYC Census 2020 Complete Count Campaign.
Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives J. Phillip Thompson, NYC Census 2020 Director Julie Menin, Council Members Carlos Menchaca and Carlina Rivera, City University of New York (CUNY) Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost José Luis Cruz, and hundreds of advocates, service providers, representatives from labor and major civic institutions, and city officials joined in the launch of what was described as “the nation’s largest and most diverse coordinated municipal campaign to achieve a complete and accurate count in the 2020 Census.”
“New York City has been on the front lines of the resistance against the Trump Administration and ensuring every New Yorker gets counted is central to that fight,” said Mayor de Blasio. “No matter how hard the federal government tries to silence our diverse voices, we still stand up and be counted.”
“A complete headcount in the 2020 Census is crucial for the future well-being of our city,” said Johnson. “We have to get this right to ensure we receive the proper federal funding for our schools, our roads, our health care, our public housing, and more.
“This is our once-in-a-decade opportunity to show the federal government that we are here, and that we count,” he added, stating that the City Council “pushed hard to make sure we allocated $40 million in the current budget for the efforts to count every New Yorker, because every New Yorker matters.”
