BALTIMORE (November 22, 2019)—On November 21, the NAACP hosted a special town hall to bring awareness to the roughly 500,000 Census Jobs currently vacant with the United States Census Bureau. Thousands of participants joined the call to hear about the positions needed to be filled to ensure a complete count in 2020. Bishop Paul S. Morton, Senior Pastor of Changing a Generation Full Gospel Baptist Church and Co-Pastor of Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Church; Marilyn Sanders, United States Census Bureau — Chicago Regional Director; Alexis Anderson-Reed, State Voices Executive Director, joined Jamal Watkins, NAACP Vice President of Civic Engagement and Derrick Johnson, NAACP President and CEO for the hour-long call.
President Derrick Johnson opened the tele-town hall with greetings and a reverberating call for communities of color to get involved in the 2020 Census to ensure an accurate count and a fair distribution of funds. “The Census is the foundation of how this country allocates funds,” said Derrick Johnson, President and CEO, NAACP. “If we are underrepresented, we will not truly benefit from the labor of our work and the contributions we’ve made to make this democracy work.”
Senior Pastor of Changing a Generation Full Gospel Baptist Church and Co-Pastor of Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Church, Bishop Paul S. Morton followed by rallying and encouraging participants to take advantage of the vacant jobs that the Census is struggling to fill. He ended his remarks by stating, “The black church has always been key in this area, and we have to get the word out and do our job to ensure our community is counted in the Census.”
Marilyn Sanders, Chicago Regional Director for the United States Census Bureau, joined the call to offer specific details about the variety of positions, pay ranges, and qualifications. Pointing callers to 2020census.gov/jobs to apply, she walked through additional specifications and assessments that will be required. She echoed the sentiments of President Johnson by mentioning, “The Census is critical and important to communities of color to ensure a fair and accurate count.”
Alexis Anderson-Reed, Executive Director of State Voices, chimed in to inform people about the work her organization is doing to strengthen the political power of people who are oppressed. Sharing a poignant story about the detrimental effects of feeling uncounted, she encouraged participants to “ensure they are counted so they can be reflected in the services provided to communities.”
The call ended with Jamal Watkins, Vice President of Civic Engagement at NAACP, raising the vitality of this critical moment in time. His words created a sense of urgency, “We don’t want you to wait for 2020 to apply for these jobs. Apply today.”
The deadline to apply is December 1st. Visit 2020Census.goiv.jobs to apply.
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Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. You can read more about the NAACP’s work and our six “Game Changer” issue areas here.
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