June 22 - 28, 2020

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The census response rate as of June 15, 2020 (2020census.gov).

Federal $ & The census Here are the top 30 federal programs in Fiscal Year 2015 and 11 more of interest to urban readers among 132 line items – roughly $675 billion -- distributed using census data. The information comes from the report, “Uses of Census Bureau Data in Federal Funds Distribution: A New Design for the 21st Century,” prepared by Marisa Hotchkiss and Jessica Phelan for the U.S. Census Bureau and issued in September 2017. The full report is available at www.2.census.gov

Census information can even affect private sector planning, Mansfield said, which is why there are food deserts in parts of Chicago. “They look at population maps and if a population is undercounted, they’re not going to put something there.” WJI emailed Mother’s Day cards to women in prison as a part of a COVID-safe event and included census info. They also partnered with two immigration organizations that are addressing issues in detention centers and spoke about the census. “We fit right in,” Mansfield said. “We think of the census as this big dry thing when it is part of advocacy. The government is trying to get our involvement and count us but the reality is it’s something we should all care about.” “I remember somebody saying, ‘wow, I didn’t know that.’ It was pretty common all across the board,” Hernandez said. Her own family reacted with the same shock to the importance of the census, Hernandez said. “Our black communities are victimized every day to police brutality, the darker your skin color, the more stuff you go through. "We have to be in survival mode. Some-

Medical Assistance Program (Medicaid) - $311.8 billion Medicare Part B - $70.3 billion Highway planning and construction - $38.48 billion Federal Pell grants - $29.92 billion National School Lunch program -- $18.92 billion Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) - $17.22 billion Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers - $15.76 billion Title 1 grants to local schools - $14.25 billion Special Education grants to states - $11.38 billion Head Start - $8.54 billion Special Supplemental Nutrition program for Women, Infants, Children - $6.06 billion Federal Transit formula grants - $5.45 billion Foster Care Title IV-E - $5.4 billion Child Care Mandatory and Matching Funds of the Child Care and Development Fund - $5.31 billion Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments program - $4.37 billion State Children’s Health Insurance Program - $4.21 billion School Breakfasts Program - $4.05 billion Low-income home energy assistance - $3.39 billion Hurricane Sandy Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Grants (CDBG-R) - $3.35 billion Unemployment Insurance - $3.01 billion Vocational Rehabilitation state grants - $2.93 billion Adoption Assistance - $2.90 billion Improving Teacher Quality state grants - $2.32 billion Crime Victim Assistance - $1.93 billion Community Development Block Grants /Entitlement Grants - $1.78 billion Substance Abuse prevention/treatment block grants - $1.72 billion Social Services block grant - $1.57 billion Federal Transit Capital Investment grants - $1.49 billion Career and Technical Ed grants to states - $1.98 billion WIA Dislocated Workers - $1.01 billion Still other federal money of interest to urban areas…. Public Housing Capital Fund - $719.15 million HIV Emergency Relief grants - $645.49 million Maternal and Child Health block grants to states - $536.17 million Capital assistance for elderly and persons with disabilities - $432.09 million Special Education preschool grants - $352.91 million Emergency Food Assistance - $298.88 million Emergency Shelter grants - $289.35 million Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS - $174.78 million Violence Against Women formula grants - $133.02 million Supportive Housing for the Elderly - $129.85 million Urban Indian Health Services - $9.61 million www.streetwise.org

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