But children who are hidden from the U.S. Census counts (taken only once every 10 years) are not a laughing matter. So, ready or not, here comes 2010 Census ... and you have an important role to play!
Many parents may not realize the importance of accurately reporting the number of children in their family, including newborns. The truth is that the undercount of children means that we do not get a true picture of our nation and our communities do not get their rightful share of public funds.
Why Children Count Too
Children have been undercounted in every census since the first one in 1790. Local communities rely on census information in planning for schools, child care, health and other critical services. Babies need to be counted today, so they can benefit tomorrow from community services.
Census counts are used, in whole or in part, for more than 140 programs that distribute more than $400 billion of federal funds to states and localities, including such child-focused programs as:
- Special Education Grants to states ($10.8 billion)
- Head Start ($6.9 billion)
- State Children's Health Insurance Program ($5.9 billion)
- Foster Care Title IV-E ($4.7 billion)
- Improving Teacher Quality State Grants ($2.9 billion)
Global Influence is working with 2010 Census to help spread this important message for the next week to all of the parents who read our blogs. We need your help to make sure that every child is reported so they can receive the services they will need in the future.
When playing hide and seek your children have the opportunity to be found after ten seconds.
The Census only comes around every ten years. So when you receive your Census form in mid-March, make sure your child (no matter how old) is counted!
How You Can Help:
- spread the word about the importance of correctly reporting children;
- print out this Dora Census 2010 Fact Sheet and post it in a public spot--your library, church, MOMS group, school;
- talk about the reasons why it is important to correctly report children (think: funding for children-focused programs!).
By participating in this Global Influence campaign, I am not only helping a cause I feel is extremely important, I am entered to win one of several $20 Amazon gift cards.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading! What do you think? . . .