"YES WE COUNT" |
"Yes We Count" 2010 Census - Brooklyn Branch |
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BROOKLYN — The 2010 Census is here and the NAACP Brooklyn Branch wants Brooklyn to be counted. Brooklyn minority communities have had the lowest response rate in 2000 to completing the Census than any other community in the United States. Neighborhoods in Brooklyn participate at alarming rates of 40 percent and below.
According to one estimate, the 2000 census missed nearly 1 million people of color. That meant millions of dollars lost for neighborhoods, jobs people did not get, and schools that were under-funded.
The NAACP has begun a Yes We Count national grassroots campaign to increase the final census response rate by 10 percent in more than 471 hard to count census tracts in 11 states and six metropolitan areas. As part of the NAACP's “Yes We Count” initiative, the Brooklyn Branch is working with the United States Census, Mayor's Office for the Census, elected and public officials, city agencies, community based organizations, educational institutions and faith based organizations to ensure that communities receive an accurate count.
On Saturday, March 20, the NAACP Brooklyn Branch will host three “Yes We Count” rallies.
These rallies will be held in three of the borough's most undercounted areas:
• Bedford-Stuyvesant at Boys and Girls High School from 10 a.m. to noon.
• Crown Heights at Medgar Evers College from noon to 2 p.m.
• East New York at St. Paul Community Baptist Church from 2 to 4 p.m.
These events are designed to increase census awareness and to encourage on-site completion of census forms. The branch has also partnered with the U.S. Postal Service, whose representatives will be on site to collect the forms.
The Brooklyn Branch's census effort also includes making its administrative office available as a Census Assistance Center. The Assistance Center will be open beginning March 19 through April 19th, Monday to Friday, noon to 3 p.m. to assist proper census application completion. The branch office is located at 126 Court St., Downtown Brooklyn.
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