BPJCC Receives Special Funding from NYC Mayor to Encourage Community Participation in Census 2020
New York, NY— BPJCC is pleased to announce it has received a funding award from the NYC Complete Count Fund — a partnership between CUNY, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council. The NYC Complete Count Fund is a first-of-its-kind Census-related community organizing program that will support and resource community-based organizations like the BPJCC to help NYC reach a full and accurate count in the 2020 Census. These funds will support the BPJCC’s efforts to make sure that Boro Park counts by ensuring that all Boro Parkers are counted in the upcoming 2020 Census.
The Complete Count Fund was built with the understanding that local community-based BPJCCs — which serve New Yorkers in the communities where they live and in the languages that they speak — are the most trusted messengers of important and sensitive information.
BPJCC is proud to join this coordinated citywide effort to build awareness about the census, convey its importance, fight the spread of mis- and disinformation, and help bridge the digital divide that might prevent many New Yorkers from participating in next year’s first online census.
“The BPJCC is very pleased,” says Rabbi Avi Greenstein, BPJCC CEO, “to play an integral role in making sure every Boro Parker is counted so that Boro Park will receive all of the benefits its residents are entitled to based on its actual numbers.”
A complete and accurate count is critical to the future of Boro Park as well as all of New York City. The census will determine how more than $650 billion in federal funds for public education, public housing, roads and bridges, and more, gets distributed annually throughout the country. This affects everything from the number of Electoral College votes and seats in the House of Representatives NY to more immediate needs. This includes healthcare, transportation, infrastructure public housing, senior centers, Medicaid, Head Start Program, and other education funding and even Homeland Security grant allocations. Ignoring the Census in 2010 adversely affected Boro Park’s future and the education of an entire generation over the course of an irretrievable ten-years. The BPJCC will make sure this mistake is not repeated.
In such a complex city, enriched by such linguistic and cultural diversity, New York City’s full participation in the first online census faces a unique set of challenges. As New Yorkers, we have embraced these challenges as an opportunity. Together, these citywide efforts will lay the groundwork for a civic engagement apparatus that will continue well beyond the 2020 census.
About NYC Census 2020
NYC Census 2020 was established as a first-of-its-kind organizing initiative by Mayor de Blasio to ensure a complete and accurate count of all New Yorkers in the 2020 Census. The program is built on four pillars: (1) a community-based awards program, The New York City Complete Count Fund; (2) an in-house “Get Out the Count” field campaign; (3) an innovative, multi-lingual, tailored messaging and marketing; as well as (4) an in-depth Agency and Partnerships engagement plan that seeks to leverage the power of the City’s 350,000-strong workforce and the city’s major institutions, including libraries, hospitals, faith-based, cultural institutions, and higher educational institutions, and more, to communicate with New Yorkers about the critical importance of census participation.
