September 28, 1999
Mayor Williams Kicks Off Census 2000 "Power in Numbers" Campaign
Announcement of District Complete Count Committee and Chair
(Washington, D.C.) Mayor Anthony A. Williams kicked-off the District's Census 2000 "Power in Numbers" Complete Count Committee campaign and announced the committee's chair at the Matthews Memorial Baptist Church in Southeast. The Mayor appointed Kent Amos to head up this committee¾comprised of 250 neighborhood, church, community, civic and business organizations in the D.C. community¾that will work with both the Mayor's office and the D.C. Council to assure a complete and accurate census count in 2000.
Amos, a District resident who has gained national recognition for opening his home for troubled youth, will make his first formal appearance as head of the District's Complete Count Committee. As founder of the Urban Family Institute, Amos has expanded his vision and capacity to reform the way communities take care of their children.
"I'm excited about heading up such an important initiative," said Amos. "This committee is comprised of the very people¾Latino, African-American, Asian¾that were undercounted in 1990. We plan to work hard in the District to change that."
Sixty-five percent of the city's African-American and Latino males were not counted. Fifty percent of the District's children were not counted and senior citizens were also misrepresented. The Complete Count Committee identified Wards 1 and 8 as having the lowest rate of census participation. Parts of Ward 7 and 6 have a high percentage of undercount as well. In the 1990 Census, the District, which is treated as a state for census purposes, only had a 56 percent response rate, the second lowest in the nation.
"The success of the census count in the District depends on the entire city's ability to work together towards our common purpose¾proper representation," said the Mayor. "This campaign is aimed at bringing awareness for change in the undercount of the District's population, so that we get our fair share of federal funding. If we don't stand up to be counted, then the numbers aren't there to justify the services we so desperately need."
A luncheon followed the event.
