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MOIA and NYC Census 2020 Host Community and Ethnic Media Virtual Roundtable: 59 Days and 54 Percent - A Countdown to Our Future

With President Trump cutting the door knocking and self-response census period by one month to depress responses, Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs and NYC Census 2020 host an emergency session on the state of the 2020 Census

NYC set to potentially lose billions for COVID-19 relief and vital congressional representation

New York — At 1:00 PM on Wednesday, August 5, the NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) and NYC Census 2020 will host an emergency public session to in response to President Trump's cutting of the door knocking period and the self-response period of the 2020 Census by one month, a move designed to depress responses and rob New York City of billions for critical programs, as well as congressional representation, for the next 10 years.

The session will be led by MOIA Commissioner Bitta Mostofi and NYC Census 2020 Deputy Director Amit Singh Bagga.

They will also be joined by NYC Census 2020 Field Director Kathleen Daniel, New York Immigration Coalition 2020 Census Senior Fellow Meeta Anand, and representatives from Make the Road New York and Chhaya CDC.

The session will also cover important information about the U.S. Census Bureau's door-to-door enumeration operation, commonly known as "NRFU" (non-response follow-up).

Media must pre-register for this event through Webex by clicking here and then clicking "Register" next to "Event Status".

What

  • Conversations with City officials, coalition leaders, and community-based organizations about the latest developments involving the 2020 Census.

Who

  • Commissioner Bitta Mostofi of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs will address misconceptions about the 2020 Census and New York City's response to President Trump's unconstitutional attempt to exclude undocumented immigrants from congressional apportionment.
  • Deputy Director Amit Singh Bagga of NYC Census 2020 will brief the press on a breaking news development. The Bureau's door-knocking operation (whereby the Bureau sends staff to knock on doors of those that have not completed the Census) is now going to end on September 30 – a full month before it was slated to end. Deputy Bagga will discuss NYC Census 2020's priorities and what areas of the city are lagging, in terms of self-response.
  • Field Director Kathleen Daniel of NYC Census 2020 will review the Bureau's door-knocking operations and NYC Census 2020's field operation, which will continue to drive self-response.
  • Census 2020 Senior Fellow Meeta Anand of the New York Immigration Coalition and representatives from Make the Road New York and Chhaya CDC will discuss the barriers to self-response participation and how their organizations are working to ensure that their constituents can get the money, power, and respect that is rightfully theirs by participating in the census.

When

  • Wednesday, August 5, 2020, 1:00 - 2:15 PM

Where

Why

  • NYC has been outperforming itself compared to 2010, but our work is not done. Currently, NYC's self-response rate is 54.5% and the national total is currently 62.8%.
  • The census is easy, safe, confidential, and important, and New Yorkers should be familiar with census takers' role in the census count.
  • It is not too late to self-respond to the 2020 Census. While the Trump administration continues to attempt to interfere with the census, the best way to respond is to complete the census right now. There are no questions about citizenship or immigration on the census.
  • COVID-19 is a stark reminder of the importance of the census, including federal funding for health care. Census data is used to measure the spread of diseases, order vaccines & plan for contact tracing. And the census determines the size of our political voice in Washington D.C., Albany, and local district lines.

About NYC Census 2020

NYC Census 2020 is a first-of-its-kind organizing initiative established by Mayor de Blasio in January 2019 to ensure a complete and accurate count of all New Yorkers in the 2020 Census. The $40 million program is built on four pillars: (1) a $19 million community-based awards program, The New York City Complete Count Fund, empowering 157 community-based organizations to engage historically undercounted communities around the 2020 Census; (2) an in-house "Get Out the Count" field campaign supported by the smart use of cutting-edge data and organizing technology, and a volunteer organizing program to promote a complete count in each of the city's 245 neighborhoods; (3) an innovative, multilingual, tailored messaging and marketing campaign, including a $3 million commitment to investing in community and ethnic media to reach every New York City community; 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 communities, cultural institutions, higher educational institutions, and more, to communicate with New Yorkers about the critical importance of census participation. Through close partnerships with trusted leaders and organizations across the five boroughs, this unprecedented campaign represents the largest municipal investment in census organizing nationwide and will build an enduring structure that empowers New Yorkers to remain civically engaged.

About the NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs

The NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) promotes the well-being of NYC's immigrant communities by advocating for policies that increase justice, equity, and empowerment. MOIA leads, supports, and manages programs that help to successfully include immigrant New Yorkers into the civic, economic, and cultural life of the City. For more information on all MOIA services and the City's many resources for immigrant New Yorkers, go to nyc.gov/immigrants; call the MOIA hotline at 212-788-7654 from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday or send an email to AskMOIA@cityhall.nyc.gov; and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.