Dallas

Groups Push to Get Dallas County Residents to Complete Census

A federal judge ruled that national counting for the 2020 census must continue through Oct. 31, but organizers have encouraged people to fill it out by Sept. 30

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It was a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, filled with live music, dancing and a census count.

Organizers expected 200 to 300 cars to drive through the community event in Dallas on Saturday, which also offered a census sign-up.

“Folks are already lined up, and we haven’t even opened yet, so that’s a huge achievement for us,” says Lorena Tule-Romain, co-founder of ImmSchools.

Leticia Tudon understands why some people worry about sharing their information.

“With Latinos, we’ve seen there have been a lot of language barriers that have prevented us from filling out the census. We see that there is some fear because of the citizenship question early on,” said Tudon, census project director for The Concilio.

Volunteers handed out tablets to help people complete the census.

“Some of our areas here in Dallas are still under 30%, so we’re really trying to make that push for Latinos to be counted,” she said.

A federal judge ruled that national counting for the 2020 census must continue through Oct. 31. It had been scheduled to end at the end of September.

But organizers say they're considering a possibility that date will change, again.

“We really want to drive the point home that we should be counted by Sept. 30," Tudon said. "There is still a possibility that it can be appealed, and that deadline might not get extended, so as of now, we are really asking the community to make that Sept. 30 their deadline."

Tudon says an extension would give undercounted communities extra time they need to get counted.

Organizers say more community events, including block-walks and partnering with food drives and area churches, are planned to get people counted for the census.

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