Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUa0h6h5noo
Hello, my name is Precious Edmonds and I am the Community Engagement and Partnerships Coordinator for the We Count Oregon campaign.
We Count Oregon campaign is a community-led effort to ensure that Hard to Count communities including people of color, immigrants, renters, rural communities and children under five know about and take the 2020 Census.
On our campaign, we like to tell people that the Census is about money, representation and power.
The census determines how federal funding is distributed to the states based on the population data that's collected, it also determines the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives each state has, and for Oregon this this this Census is really important because we can potentially gain a sixth congressional seat.
The census is the most inclusive democratic process in the United States, it allows for the inclusion of community members to engage in a process that will shape their communities for the next 10 years.
We also created an extensive training program that not only educated community members about the 2020 Census but also provided tools and resources to empower them to go on and train and educate others as ambassadors of the We Count Oregon campaign.
Obviously, none of this would be possible without United Way and we're so grateful to have been working with them as they not only supported our work but championed our work, and really provided the foundation for that work by working with funders and making sure that the work was being a was able to be funded and so we're super grateful and super elated to have had such a great working relationship with United Way.