Bangladeshi Complete Count Committee Urges the Community to “Join Our 2020 Census Launch” : U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting for 500,000 jobs nationwide

UsaNewsOnline.Com Desk, New York : The New York City Bangladeshi Complete Count Committee will launch a five-borough 2020 Census recruitment campaign on Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 3PM at 2099 Starling Avenue in the Parkchester section of the Bronx. Its goal is to help ensure that every New Yorker is counted.

The Committee aims to recruit bilingual community members to apply for the temporary positions with the U.S. Census Bureau that begin in the spring of 2020, so they can help reach Bangladeshis who don’t speak English or who may be fearful of speaking to government officials, explained Mazeda Uddin, founder and executive director of the South Asian Foundation for Education, Scholarship and Training (SAFEST).

The Committee will also share best practices on messaging and strategies about the importance of everyone being counted, and will listen to trusted community leaders who encounter difficulties in reassuring the Bangladesh community that participating in the Census is safe, easy and very important. “Everyone has a role to play,” Mazeda Uddin added.

Census information cannot be used to identify and/or deport undocumented immigrants. Noncitizens are eligible who are authorized to work in the U.S. can apply for these jobs if they speak a needed language.

The U.S. Census Bureau will count every person living in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the five U.S. territories. The results will determine the allocation of more than $675 billion dollars nationwide. An undercount will result in the loss of resources that our communities rely on every day. As a result, the New York State allocated $20 million and New York City allocated $40 million for census outreach in hard-to-count communities.

 “Next year’s national census will determine many of the resources and opportunities that our communities will have access to over the next decade,” said New York State Senator Luis Sepulveda,  who represents the 32^nd Senate District in which Parkchester is located. “It is vital that every one of us participates.”

“Every New Yorker must be counted in the 2020 census, and we must all do our part to organize our neighbors,” added Assembly member Karine Reyes, who represents the 87^th Assembly District.  “I commend the Bangladeshi community for recognizing the importance of the census and mobilizing to ensure an accurate count of its members. Our children’s future depends on it.”  

“A complete and accurate count must include all our Bangladeshi neighbors,” add New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. “We can’t stand for anything less.”

Census day is April 1. People will receive instructions on how to take the census in March of 2020.  The census will be available online in 12 languages besides English: Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean, Russian, Arabic, Tagalog, Polish, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese and Japanese. Census workers (known as enumerators) will go door to door to count people in households that do not respond to their census questionnaire online, by phone or on paper.

The Bureau is aiming to hire about 500,000 census takers across the country in 2020 and is now starting its peak recruiting efforts. With language barriers expected to be severe, the Census Bureau announced in early November that it is widening its recruiting efforts for 2020 census jobs to include noncitizens who are eligible to work in the U.S. for their non-English language skills. Encouraging people within hard-to-count neighborhoods to work for the 2020 Census can help ensure these communities hear from trusted voices when an enumerator has to come to their door.   

Applying early to work as a census taker is a great way for holiday seasonal workers, students, retirees and workers in the economy to line up spring and summer employment, Jeff Behler, U.S. Census Bureau New York Regional Director says, “While a Census is a national event, in order to be successful, it must be conducted at the local level. This starts with hiring people to work in their own communities.  We look forward to working with the Bangladeshi Complete Count Committee and South Asian Foundation for Education, Scholarship and Training to ensure that together we provide easy and ample opportunities for local community members to apply to Census jobs.”

The 2010 Census in NYC indicated that Bangladeshis are the fastest growing group in the City. Since then, the Board of Elections has provided Bengali-language ballots at 60 poll sites in Queens, as well as Bengali-language voter registration forums. In addition, the Health & Hospital Corporation and the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles have provided information in Bengali. Press Release.