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Today is national Census Day – Let’s get counted!

The situation with COVID-19 is changing minute to minute, hour to hour. During this difficult time, we must remember what we have always known as Union members: strength in numbers. Today is national Census Day, an official kick off to efforts already underway to make sure every single Californian gets counted and we collectively are able to secure the critical funding our communities so desperately need, now more than ever.

Do you value safe bridges and roads? Good jobs? How about community programs to help with issues like housing and homelessness? Does it matter to you that California has political representation so we all have a voice when important decisions are made about our communities?

If you answered YES to these questions, then filling out the Census is for you!

>>Download the Census Fact Sheet

Over the past couple of weeks, you may have received an invitation that was mailed to your home, asking you to complete the 2020 Census online. This means you are now able to fill out your Census immediately, helping secure important resources for your community. You will be able to fill out your Census online, by phone or by mail.

Make sure to tell all your family, friends and coworkers to fill out the online questionnaires immediately. This count is used to determine California’s share of $700 billion in federal funding for important programs. The count also determines the number of representatives we have in Congress to speak out on our behalf in the federal government.

The federal funds based on the Census results support hundreds of thousands of jobs in the public and private sector. Because those jobs are mostly union, it has a huge effect on our union’s membership. If California is undercounted in the Census, that could mean the loss of funding that supports many of our members’ jobs. California is a large and diverse state. We need those funds to effectively provide services in our communities and to support good union jobs that build our middle class.

April 8th-16th everyone who hasn’t filled out the Census online will receive a mailed reminder and hard copy questionnaire. Then on April 20-27th there will be final reminders mailed before the in-person follow-ups begin at homes that haven’t been counted. While the situation with COVID-19 is developing every day, the months of May through July are scheduled to be spent by Census takers visiting homes of those who haven’t responded yet.

So be on the lookout for Census materials that will be arriving in your mailbox at home. If you take a few minutes to fill out the information on the Census secure website, you’re done! Nothing else is needed to ensure you and your family are counted.

The bottom line: Let’s get counted! Our jobs, community programs and political representation is at stake. For more information, go to https://census.ca.gov/ or https://2020census.gov/.

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