The Candidates of the Danville (VA) Chapter - The Links, Incorporated will hold a community drive-through campaign on Saturday to encourage citizens to complete and mail in their 2020 Census forms.
The parade of vehicles will begin at 2 p.m. at the Langston Focus School. The parade route will include sections of Gay, Ross, Holbrook, and Sycamore streets. It will end at the Cedar Terrace Apartments, where Census information packets will be distributed to residents at the apartments.
The campaign is part of the “Connected in Green: We All Count – 2020 Census” initiative of the Candidates of the Danville (VA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated to educate hard to reach and undercounted segments of the community about the importance of the 2020 Census and to encourage them to participate.
Hard-to-count populations include, but are not limited to:
- Children under five
- Racial and ethnic minorities
- Persons who do not speak fluent English
- The poor
- The homeless
- Undocumented immigrants
- Mobile individuals such as college students
- LGBTQ persons
- Individuals who are angry at or distrustful of the government
- Senior Citizens
- Others
There are four census tracks in Danville that are considered undercounted communities. The people who live in these neighborhoods are (1) hard to locate, (2) hard to contact, (3) hard to persuade to participate in the census, and (4) hard to interview. The parade is part of a plan of action by the Candidates of the Danville (VA) Chapter - The Links, Incorporated to reach out to these residents to be counted.
The count is mandated by the Constitution and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, a nonpartisan government agency. The 2020 Census counts the population in the United States and five U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands).
In mid-March, homes across the country began receiving invitations to complete the 2020 Census. Census data will help determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding flow into communities every year for the next decade.