The Census is an important cornerstone of our system of government and has been taken every 10 years since 1790. Census data determines reapportionment in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Electoral College, and overall representation at the state and local levels.
Census data also informs the annual allocation of over $2 trillion in federal funding for infrastructure, health care, child care, education, rural housing and business development, first responders, and money for veterans. And 2030 is a big year because for the first time, the census will provide more diverse identification options for people from the Middle East and North Africa and Hispanic residents.
Congress is currently in negotiations on funding bills for FY 2025, which must pass by September 30th. One key issue is adequate funding for the U.S. Census. We are disappointed that the House proposes to cut Census Bureau funding to $1.354 billion―an amount that is well below both the agency’s FY 2024 funding level ($1.382 billion), the Administration’s FY 2025 budget request ($1.6 billion), and independent census experts’ request of $2 billion.
Right-wing members of the House are pushing to cut census funding and some want to exclude non-citizens from the count, which would be unconstitutional. Asking a citizenship question on the census will create anxiety and fear and lead to an undercount of millions of documented people who live in mixed immigration status households―including nearly 5.5 million children. Cutting census funding means more people in historically undercounted groups―including people with low incomes, Black and brown people, and young children―will be left out of the count, leaving them under-represented and their communities underfunded.
An undercount of these vulnerable communities means less money for Medicaid, public schools, housing, nutrition, and other critical services and programs.
An archive of this webinar is available here. Using the New Poverty Data Wednesday, September 9, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Eastern time The annual Census Bureau data about poverty, income, and health insurance will be released on September 16 and 17. There is increasing recognition that poverty is stubborn,...
An archive of this webinar is available here. A special webinar with authors Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer, whose book $2 a Day describes in depth the lives of families living in extreme poverty in America. $2.00 a Day has been included in theNew York Times Book Review list of 100 Notable Books of 2015. When he reviewed the...
An archive of this webinar is available here. Child Lead Poisoning: Preventable Harm A Webinar co-sponsored by the Coalition on Human Needs, First Focus, Children's Leadership Council, Partnership for America's Children, MomsRising, and the National Head Start Association Tuesday, May 3, 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. ET The lead poisoning...
An archive of this webinar is available here. Would you like to know … whether poverty is growing or declining in your state? how to use state and local data about income by race, age, or gender? how to get the new Census Bureau poverty, income and health insurance data?...
An archive of this webinar is available here. The Affordable Care Act. Medicaid. Medicare. SNAP. SSI. Tax rates for the wealthy and corporations. The new Congress wants to repeal, restrict and/or cut all of these. How will they use their rules to try to carry all this out? And how...