Local campaign group holds Census drive by event

DETROIT - "This is for real," said Director of Detroit 2020 Census Campaign, Vicky Kovari. "This is real money that we are talking about." 

By now you have likely heard what the Census can do for cities, when it comes to getting money from the Federal Government. 

"For one Census form, it equals $5,000 per year in federal money," Kovari said. "That's Medicaid, education, the meals going out to families all subsidized by the government. That is what is at stake foe the Census."

Which is why the people at "Detroit 2020 Census Campaign" continue despite the obstacles thrown their way courtesy of the coronavirus. 

"It put us behind a little, but that's okay," said Deputy Director of the Detroit 2020 Census Campaign, Erinn Harris. "Detroiters are resilient and we are getting the word out." 

"King High School was supposed to be the site of out kick off rally in March, it was cancelled along with 90 other events that we had planned to sign people up," Kovari said. 

The past few months have been spent making phones in an attempt to get people to fill out their forms, but now things are different. 

"We feel like now, everyone is coming up for air and we feel the Census is a unifying thing for the city of Detroit," Kovari said. 

Which is what Saturday's event was designed to do. For three hours, bags filled with hand sanitize, and other forms of PPE were handed out to volunteers so they can take a face to face approach and more effectively spread their message. 

 "These cars are lined up to get posters to put in windows of businesses and residences, kicker cards to pass out that talk about census and how to fill it out," Kovari said. 

Once the volunteers are properly armed, the job is simple.

"We really want the neighborhoods to step up and make sure that everyone is signed up for the Census," Kpvari said. 

The Census takes about ten minutes to complete, and the information that is gathered is used to distribute Federal Funds for the next decade.