Last month, NYC Census 2020 officially released its Request For Proposals (RFP) to community-based organizations (CBOs) to receive a city grant to fund their census outreach programs. The census initiative teamed up with the City University of New York (CUNY) and the NYC City Council to allocate $19 million in awards to support efforts from community organizations to educate and encourage residents to participate in the upcoming 2020 Census.

According to a newsletter sent out by CUNY’s Mapping Department — which is responsible for the Hard To Count data census map — the school will begin reviewing grant applications from CBOs this month. Approximately 150 community organizations across the city’s five boroughs are expected to receive financial support through NYC’s Complete Count Fund. As the NYC Census 2020 website states, the fund aims to “increase individual response rates overall, especially within historically undercounted areas and constituencies.”

“Direct contact with New York City residents is important because everybody counts,” Kathleen Daniel, who is the field director of the city’s census initiative, told the AmNews. “It is important that each one is reaching one and each one teaches one literally that the census is important.”