Gov. Andrew Cuomo is announcing that an additional $10 million will be in his new state budget to help with the 2020 U.S. census, and to make sure that as many New Yorkers as possible are counted.
Cuomo said the additional money will be used to target traditionally hard to count populations, including immigrants. The governor said they may be wary of a federal government led by President Donald Trump, that Cuomo said has been “antagonistic” toward those born in other countries.
“We literally have to knock on doors, call people’s homes,” Cuomo said. “Let them understand what the census is."
He said older adults might also be undercounted, because the census is supposed to be done on line this year, and many elderly are not computer savvy.
The census determines everything from the number of congressional representatives a state has, to funding for numerous programs.
The state plans to spend a total of $70 million on the census count this year.
