LOS ANGELES — Mayor Eric Garcetti joined members of the Koreatown community this evening to highlight the City’s Census Goodwill Ambassadors program, which empowers local residents to educate their neighbors on the importance of the Census, encourage participation in next year’s tally, and ensure a full and accurate count in 2020.
“The Census is the largest civic action in our country, and we can all carry a simple, clear, and unmistakable message: in our city, everybody counts,” said Mayor Garcetti. “With our Census Goodwill Ambassadors helping to lead the charge, we can ensure that immigrant households, communities of color, low-income Angelenos, and our most vulnerable neighbors take part in the Census — and that Los Angeles gets the resources and representation we deserve.”
Every 10 years, Census data helps to determine how many representatives L.A. will send to Congress — and how much federal funding will return to the city and county to support our education, health care, transportation, infrastructure, and other programs. If a population is undercounted, the entire region risks losing vital aid and investments in our communities.
As the largest city in the hardest-to-count county in the nation, there is $115 billion on the line in L.A., which is why Mayor Garcetti has led the effort across the state and country to secure a fair, inclusive, and comprehensive count for all Angelenos and every American.
To help meet that goal, Mayor Garcetti’s team developed the Census Goodwill Ambassador (CGA) initiative, which trains community members to become experts in their neighborhoods, prepares them to interface with fellow residents, and equips them with the tools to answer questions about the 2020 tally.
With support from the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, hundreds of volunteers have a chance to receive appreciation gifts and non-profit organizations have an opportunity to obtain Census mini-grants to back their efforts. Over a dozen CGA workshops have been scheduled across the City, and details are available here.
Mayor Garcetti has made Census action a top priority across City government. In 2017, he hired a Census Director, Maria Garcia, and signed the 21st Executive Directive of his administration — establishing Census Liaisons in nearly every City department to coordinate with the Mayor’s Office of the Census and ensure an accurate count in Los Angeles.
Each department has developed a 2020 Census Outreach Plan and participated in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Local Update of Census Addresses program, which will help to strengthen Census outreach and improve the delivery of City services, while protecting the confidentiality of residents’ personal information.
