Car Caravan encourages people to fill out 2020 census

SEELEY, Calif.(KYMA, KECY) - A car caravan drove through the streets of Seeley to remind people to fill out the 2020 census.

The Comite Civico Del Valle Inc organized this car caravan to drive through Seeley and four other small towns in Imperial County.

The non-profit chose to do a car caravan instead of their usual door to door canvassing to ensure physical distancing.

“This means a lot for our communities, the underserved communities of Imperial County need to be fully counted There is an estimated amount of about 30-35 percent of our community that doesn’t get counted, doesn’t get represented,” said Miguel Hernandez, Communications Coordinator.

Miguel says that percentage is even lower in Calipatria, Seeley, Westmoreland, Heber, and Eastside of Brawley.

As of June 16 Calexico, Brawley, Calipatria, Westmorland, El Centro, Holtville have had a combined response rate of 54.5 percent.

Small cities like Seeley have yet to be counted.

“But the smaller cities have even more disadvantages than the regular cities just as today the city of Seeley doesn’t have an actual physical address for them to receive a physical questionnaire census. There is also limited connectivity, limited internet access so that is why we focus our efforts on the smaller cities in the county.”

The federal government uses Census numbers to allocate more than $675 billion in federal funds annually for community programs and services.

“It’s important for the community to fill out the questionnaire cause that’s what we depend on to get funds for the government for the schools, the roads, government programs just about everything,” said Elizabeth Swerdfeger, Coordinator for census outreach.

You can still fill out the 2020 census all you have to do is logon to my2020census.gov the deadline is October 31st.

“We’re very prosperous here and by making yourself count we’re going to be even more prosperous,” said Swerdfeger.