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** OCA Urges Senate to Pass S.4571 to Extend Census Deadline
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

17 September 2020

Contact: Eiley Fong | Communications Associate
202.223.5500 | [email protected] (mailto: [email protected])

Washington, DC - With the 2020 Census deadline quickly approaching on September 30, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates calls on the Senate to pass S.4571 ([link removed]) to extend the Census deadline to its original deadline of October 31, 2020 ([link removed]) . This also changes the deadline ([link removed]) for the delivery of appointment data from December 31, 2020 to April 30, 2021, and the deadline for the delivery of redistricting data from March 31, 2021 to July 31, 2021. OCA is one of the many national and state organizations to endorse this bill, a community effort to recognize the importance of a complete and fair count.

The decennial Census not only serves as a snapshot of the population of the United States in April, but allocates billions of dollars in federal funding ([link removed]) for social services, aid, and state needs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns around an accurate and complete count secure the need for a count deadline that will not leave out any communities. The Census Bureau has taken safety precautions ([link removed].) to the way it collects door-to-door data in order tokeep Census workers and residents ([link removed]) in these communities safe. Cutting the deadline short erases these efforts.
“We cannot afford to have our communities undercounted or left out,” says Roland Hwang, OCA National Vice President of Public Affairs. “The Census only happens once every 10 years, and the pandemic has tragically demonstrated how quickly life can change. We have to be careful, and we have to get this right, because there is so much at stake. Otherwise, we will remain underrepresented, underfunded, and deprived of a full voice for the next decade. With only 65.9% responses across the country ([link removed]) , it is imperative that the Census deadline be extended as we continue to outreach and get our communities counted.”

OCA–Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national civil rights organization dedicated to improving the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).

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View this statement online here ([link removed]) .

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