By: Derrick MacGuire
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week that NYC Census 2020, the City’s first-of-its-kind census outreach and engagement campaign, is investing more than $1.4 million in an unprecedented partnership with New York City’s three public library systems – the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queens Public Library – to count every New Yorker in the upcoming 2020 Census.
Funding libraries to conduct census outreach and provide internet access will be a critical component of NYC Census 2020’s campaign to combat the fear and disinformation resulting from the specter of the now-defeated citizenship question, as well as bridge the digital divide that has left hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers without regular, reliable access to the internet, the mayor’s office said.
The funding is one of the cornerstones of the City’s overall historic $40 million investment in census outreach, organizing, and public awareness, which includes a large community-based grants program, a field operation, as well as innovative, robust, and multi-lingual media and marketing efforts.
“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 our fight,” said de Blasio in a statement. “We cannot let the federal government silence our diversity of voices. Our partnership with the public library system will help all New Yorkers stand up and be counted.”
“You might think we’ve come a long way since the three-fifths compromise, but when it comes to the Census, make no mistake: the Trump Administration thinks it’s 1820, not 2020. We’re not going to let them use this critically important civil rights exercise to erase us from the map, which is why every one of our major public institutions, from hospitals to housing, and to the 90 library branches serving our most undercounted neighborhoods will be leveraged to get every New Yorker counted next year,” added Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives Phil Thompson.
NYC Census 2020’s funding will cover:
Technology: libraries will be able to significantly expand the ability for New Yorkers, especially those lacking internet access, to participate online in the census as a result of investments in laptops, tablets, and other similar technological solutions
Training and translations: the libraries’ front-line staff will be trained and equipped to help New Yorkers from all backgrounds gain access to information about the census, with a focus on priority branches
Operational support: extended library hours will be funded in priority neighborhoods to convene census-related activities, such as informational sessions and periods of time when New Yorkers can access the internet to participate in the census
Marketing: library-specific messaging will be created to reach local communities in dozens of languages, and to raise awareness about libraries’ role in the decennial census; and
Personnel: civic engagement staff will be brought on to engage New Yorkers on the census and activate grassroots interest across the library systems.
