Because of the low turnout in 2010, many Black, brown, and immigrant communities were not counted and received less money that would have been put into schools, hospitals, community infrastructure, programs and political representation just to name a few things.

To increase awareness and the 2020 count, the government allocated dollars to non-profit partners to go into the community and educate the residents to give them the understanding how completing the census would benefit them.

These non-profit agencies were doing great jobs connecting to the residents of the community by having rallies, going into senior homes, distributing flyers, hosting townhall meetings, meeting at colleges, and giving instruction on filling out the forms online, until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

I am proud to say that I am a part of two agencies that are in partnerships that are working hard to enlighten our communities to be counted.

South Central Community Services, Inc., is part of the Black Community Provider Network.