Kane County Region Will Get $750,000 To Promote 2020 Census
Kane County efforts to promote the 2020 Census count got a shot in the arm Tuesday (Oct. 22, 2019), when state officials announced recipients of $20 million for outreach efforts in 11 regions across the state.
According to news releases from the state of Illinois and Reaching Across Illinois Library System, the Illinois Department of Human Services has awarded RAILS $750,000 to encourage full participation in Census 2020 throughout the state.
Angie Thomas, who also is co-chair of Aurora’s Census 2020 efforts, credited fellow County Board member Mo Iqbal with spearheading the effort to land the grant.
“The grant proposal that Mo helped prepare for a regional census initiative will be funded!” Thomas said in an email to County Board members. “Kudos, Mo! Your work and leadership are appreciated”
In September, RAILS submitted a census grant application to IDHS to serve as a Regional Intermediary for the collar counties region, which includes Kane, DuPage, Grundy, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.
The grant is focused on increasing the self-response rate of historically hard-to-count communities. Upon receiving the grant, RAILS will work with a number of subrecipients, including both public libraries and county agencies.
The 2020 Census count is a big deal because those numbers are used to calculate federal, state and local government representation as well as funding for critical services.
The state of Illinois has granted total of $20 million to organizations throughout Illinois — the largest investment of any state in 2019 for Census 2020, according to a state news release.
Interested in Joining the 2020 Census Team?
The Census Bureau also announced Tuesday the kickoff of its recruitment campaign for census taker.
The bureau is aiming to hire about 500,000 census takers in communities nationwide to help conduct the once-a-decade count.
“We’re working hard to recruit and hire local census takers from the communities they will be counting,” Census Bureau officials said in a news release. “Working for the 2020 Census is the perfect opportunity to reserve your place in history and help your community shape its future, all while earning extra income.”
SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau website, state of Illinois and RAILS news releases
