The WE COUNT! Book
Give WE COUNT! as a gift to all the families with young children in your community.
When this colorful counting book is read aloud children learn how to count, and adults learn why and how to ensure each one of us is counted in the 2020 census.
Inviting, simply written, and available in many languages - make WE COUNT! the cornerstone of a diverse, inclusive community Census Campaign.
The Program Toolkit
Spark authentic conversations about the Census and civic engagement by training "trusted advisors" to give, open, and read the WE COUNT! book together with each family they serve, and confidently support their full participation in the Census.
Online tools include:
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Live TOT and Training Video
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A Handbook with a curriculum, partnership, dissemination planning, and evaluation tools.
The Family Event Kit
Hold a Family Fun event in your community in April 2020, using the WE COUNT! Event Kit.
The Kit provides downloadable invitations, posters and activities that ensure that everyone who attends is counted in the 2020 Census. In the process, adults explore the meaning of democracy and the value of being counted, while children engage in math and language games.
Why does the Census matter?
Every ten years the US Census counts every person who lives in the US. The information they collect is used to determine:
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How much each state receives of the over $650 billion the federal government distributes each year.
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The number of congressional seats held by each state and the number of electoral college votes they have in the presidential election.
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Planning by the state, county, and city for everything from Head Start to High School and healthcare to highways.
In the 2010 Census, 2 million children were missed or miscounted! About $160 billion a year in Federal funding for programs that help young children thrive are allocated based on the Census count of children!
When young children are miscounted, federal funds meant to help them thrive are distributed incorrectly—or not at all.
For example,
In 2015, census data
guided the distribution of:
$61 billion for children’s Medicaid
$29 billion for food stamps
$8 billion for Head Start
$4.6 billion for foster care
Why is it important to count all kids?
How did the last census miss or miscount 2 million young children?
Counting can be complicated!
Young children missed or miscounted usually:
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Live in large and complex households that are rented, not owned.
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Live with single parents or young parents between the ages of 18-29.
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Are not the biological or adopted child of the householder.
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Live with their grandparents, aunts and uncles, or other family members.
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Live in families that do not speak English and are recent immigrants.
What Can I Do?
To ensure the next census is accurate researchers suggest we take these steps :
Focus on racial and ethnically diverse families.
The WE COUNT! book and program was created with diverse parents, practitioners and illustrators.
Explain how (not just why) to fill out the Census and address complex issues - such as where to count children with complicated living arrangements.
The WE COUNT! book and program gives clear explanations and simple, attractive tools to support families' census concerns.
Engage "trusted messengers" to support participation.
WE COUNT! training and event tools are meant to give community practitioners, that families already know and trust, a concrete, simple and clear way to discuss the Census.
Fortunately...once families learn how the census affects their children and community, they are more likely to want to count their kids!
"My program, the care we provide, even my salary all depend on federal funding allocated based on the data from the Census'
count of children!"
