Florida Counts Census 2020 And Miami-Dade Counts 2020 Partner With Family Dollar And Dollar General Stores To Boost Florida Participation In The 2020 Census

MIAMI, June 25, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Florida Counts Census 2020, a statewide census initiative and Miami-Dade Counts 2020, the Miami-Dade philanthropic census coalition announced their collaboration with Family Dollar and Dollar General Stores to reach customers in 172 stores in seven Florida counties to encourage their completion of the 2020 Census.    

The eight-week partnership beginning July 1 will feature 2020 Census ads on receipts at more than 172 Family Dollar and Dollar General stores located in communities that have had low self- response rates on the census thus far. Low response communities typically include young children, highly mobile persons, racial and ethnic-minorities and non-English speakers, among others. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced Florida Counts and Miami-Dade Counts 2020 to expand their outreach and grassroot messaging on the critical importance of the census to other tools such as the receipts which will include a text hotline "text CENSUS (or CENSO for Spanish) to 66539" for customers seeking more information about the census.

"Florida Counts and Miami-Dade Counts 2020 are pleased to partner with Dollar Stores to be able to reach our neighbors in Miami-Dade, Monroe, the Panhandle and throughout the state of Florida with an important call to action in completing the Census," said Susan Racher of Florida Counts. Lindsey Linzer of Miami-Dade Counts 2020 added "This gives us another way to reach an important population to ensure Florida has as accurate a count as possible for the good of the entire state."

"We are delighted to promote the Census in our retail partners locations throughout the state," said Rick Lorch, director of sales of Shopperlocal, who designed the campaign. "We realize the importance of the Census and are very happy to play a small part in encouraging shoppers to complete the Census and be counted."

Together, the Florida Counts and Miami-Dade Counts raised more than $2.2 million in philanthropic funds for Census 2020 outreach, education, and messaging to ensure an accurate count. Florida Counts Census 2020 has made grants to 45 nonprofits throughout Florida who are conducting the hard work of outreach to their communities in this era of physical distancing by using digital, phone, social media and other methods to help people complete their Census. Miami-Dade Counts 2020 awarded grants to 29 trusted community-based organizations working to create awareness about the census in communities across the county.

It was estimated that Florida relinquished approximately $20 Billion in federal funding over the last decade by having omitted 7.5% of its residents in the 2010 Census. In this 2020 Census, Florida has consistently lagged the national average response rates to the Census and therefore the state risks losing more than $20 billion of federal funding for the next decade.

Florida Counts Census 2020
Florida Counts Census 2020 is a philanthropic initiative to improve the census count in Florida. The eight 501(c)(3) non-partisan organizations spearheading this initiative are: Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, Florida Philanthropic Network, Florida Nonprofit Alliance, Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Florida C3 Civic Engagement Table, Urban League of Broward County, The New Florida Majority Education Fund and Ventus Charitable Foundation. Florida Philanthropic Network is a charitable organization, recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3), that will accept donations, collect and distribute funds raised. For more information on Florida Counts Census 2020 visit http://www.FLcounts.com.

Miami-Dade Counts 2020
Miami-Dade Counts 2020 is a collaborative effort, built by a growing base of local and national funders, to help ensure that everyone in Miami-Dade County is counted in the 2020 Census. The group provided grants for nonprofits and grassroots organizations working to ensure a complete count - especially in the most hard-to-count and reach communities - as well as other resources to carry out their efforts. Partners include the Allegany Franciscan Ministries, the Census Equity Fund, The - - Children's Trust, the Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties, FIU Metropolitan Center, Health Foundation of South Florida, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Miami Foundation, State Voices, Radical Partners, Stearns Weaver Miller, the United Way of Miami-Dade, the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, and Commissioner Eileen Higgins District 5. To learn more visit http://www.miamicensus.org.

ShopperLocal
ShopperLocal is a target marketing company providing simple, high quality, and cost-effective solutions to thousands of supermarkets, value chain and big box retailers. To learn more visit http://www.shopperlocal.com.

U.S. Census Bureau
Once each decade, the U.S. Census Bureau attempts to count every person in the United States. The 2020 Census will be the first to rely heavily on online responses. The data collected by the decennial Census is used to distribute $1.5 trillion in federal funds to state and local government and determines the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. For information on U.S. Census visit http://www.census.gov.

SOURCE FL Counts Census 2020