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Cooper To Declare National Census Day To Help Push Count

Governor Roy Cooper will issue a proclamation today declaring it National Census Day in North Carolina. There is an extra push to get the state’s more than 10 million residents counted while also dealing with COVID-19."The more people you can tell the better, especially folks who have young kids, and especially black families and Latino families," according to a social media campaign to get the word out. "Traditionally, those are the people who get undercounted the most in the Census."

Social distancing has resulted in the cancellation of many Census 2020 public events. North Carolina’s Complete Count Commission is kicking off a social media campaign, encouraging residents to print and post “I Counted” signs to windows and doors.

"If you don’t count that baby in the Census then you’re losing out on the money that comes down to the state based on our Census count, that goes toward stuff that your child is going to need, like teacher’s salaries, child care, figuring out where grocery stores and hospitals should be, emergency personnel, roads," according to the campaign.

Carolina Demography is tracking the response rate in North Carolina. This week, they found that the state has fallen even further behind the national rate – and is among the bottom 15 states in the country. The highest reporting counties are in the Triangle and the Charlotte metro region.

Leoneda Inge is WUNC’s race and southern culture reporter, the first public radio journalist in the South to hold such a position. She also is co-host of the podcast Tested and host of the special podcast series, PAULI. Leoneda is the recipient of numerous awards from AP, RTDNA and NABJ. She’s been a reporting fellow in Berlin and Tokyo. You can follow her on Twitter @LeonedaInge.
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