2020 Census: The Importance of Counting Every Child 5 and Under

April1, 2020, is Census Day

The Census is your chance to make sure yourcommunity counts. Participating in the Census will help make sure yourcommunity over the next 10 years receives:

• Fair representation in Congress;
• Financial resources for health,schools, transportation and more; and
• Help for information leaders toplan your community’s future. [1]

More than $5 billion of North Carolina’sfederal funding for children’s services is at stake in the census, so it’scritical to get the count right. That’s about $1,600 for each person in federalfunding for the state. [2]

However, in the 2010 Census, nearly 1 million children (4.6% of children under the age of 5) were not counted, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In fact, children under age 5 are one of the largest groups of undercounted people in the United States. [3] If missed in the Census, young children in hard to count communities also stand to suffer the most from reductions in funding to vital programs. [4]

Who isHard-to-Count?

• Low-income households
• People of color
• Non-native English speakers
• “Complex” families [4] (forexample, those with multiple generations of a family, unrelated families livingtogether and blended or foster families.) [3]
• Immigrants
• Children <6
• Renters [2]

In North Carolina, 950,000 residents live in ahard-to-count community, [2] leaving 73,000 young children at riskof being missed in the 2020 Census. [4]

Nearly 1 in 5 of America’s infants are growing up in poverty, putting them at a greater risk to fall behind their peers in language development, reading proficiency, and experience learning disabilities and developmental delays. It is critical to invest in programs such as Early Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant that ensure all children have the opportunity to thrive. [5]

WhatCan You Do?

• Help spread the word! Share this article by clicking on the social media icons below.

• Share the Bureau’s public service announcements and videos: https://2020census.gov/en/partners/psa-toolkit.html

• See if you live in a hard-to-count area: https://www.nccensus.org/resources/north-carolinas-hard-to-count-communities

• Download Early Years’s 2020 Census Fact Sheet and share it with the people in your life.

• Learn more about the 2020 Census and find more resources and shareable materials here.

• Tell the people in your life who care for children 5 and under to count every child in the 2020 Census on April 1.

Because census results help determine wherefederal funds are distributed for programs that are important for children, anaccurate count can shape a child’s future for the next decade and beyond. It’simportant to count young children now so they have the resources they need asthey grow up. It all begins with responding to the 2020 Census. [3]