On April 25, OCA New Jersey Chapter conducted a program which featured speakers from the Census Bureau. In accordance with OCA National’s Goals of the 2009-2010 year, OCA-NJ encourages all of its members and partners to make every effort to be part of the census activities. Both Arvind Swarmy and Jonathan Gromer, spoke about the accuracy of the census directly affecting our nation’s ability to ensure equal representation and equal access to important governmental resources for all Americans.
+ Census data directly affects how more than $300 billion per year in federal and state funding is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvements, public health, education, housing, transportation and much more.
+ Census data also affects where new businesses, nonprofit organizations and other governmental and non-governmental services are likely to set up shop.
+ The Census is used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, redistrict state legislatures, and define school district assignment areas and other important functional areas of government.
+ Participation in the census is mandatory for any population group (regional or ethnic) to maximize the voice of its interests.___
At the end of the census presentation, we again realized how important it is for all APA ‘s to be counted. Since 1990, OCA has had a partnership with the Census Bureau. As a Census Information Center (CIC), OCA works with the Census Bureau to make census information and data available to underserved communities that may not have access to census data through other means of the data dissemination network. OCA also actively advocates community participation in the census through its local chapters.
