Ashfaq Syed
CHICAGO: The 2020 Census Naperville Complete Count Committee conducted a Panel Discussion, on Zoom Webinar Platform, on July 23, 2020, with representatives from Local, County and State Governments, US Census Bureau, and Naperville Area Community Organizations to discuss the role that different stakeholder are required to play in ensuring that all residents are counted in the 2020 US Census.
The event was hosted under the leadership of Mayor Steve Chirico, the City of Naperville, and Mark R. Rice Liaison, Complete Count Committee. A large number of people logged-in and viewed the informative proceedings of the Panel Discussion.
Mark R. Rice, who moderated the Panel Discussion, welcomed and introduced the evening’s panelists. He said that the Committee, which comprises over 135 community organizations, from all segments of the Naperville community, promotes the US 2020 Census via webinars, websites, Facebook pages, twitter accounts, newsletters, etc. “As a result of their outstanding efforts, Naperville, as of today, ranks #1 across the US with an 80.4% US Census self-response rate for cities over 140,000 residents”, Rice stated, with a sense of pride shared by all on the panel. Rice ended his opening comments by thanking CCC member Ashfaq Syed saying “Ashfaq Syed has worked tirelessly on the Committee, developed the face-book page, and worked as behind the scenes engineer”!
Mayor Chirico, in his Opening Remarks, underlined the importance of counting every person residing in the City considering the fact that a community gains $ 1,800 a year and $ 18,000 over the 10 years before the next census, for every person counted. He, therefore, called upon people to reach out to their friends and neighbors, especially those who have difficulties in accessing and completing the Census.
Santosh Kumar, Executive Director, Metropolitan Asian Family Services stated that their members establish a live contact with different communities to educate and help them complete their census forms. “In addition, we have conducted multiple workshops and seminars and used social media extensively in this campaign” She pointed out that her organization has approximately 700 members, with a majority of them being senior citizens. “We have been using newsletters, emails, social media, and face-to-face meetings to encourage them to fill out census forms” she said and added that their IT team extends help to the senior citizens in filling the Census forms as many of them are not comfortable with computers.
Marilyn Sanders, Chicago Regional Director, US Census Bureau.. Grant Wehrli, IL State Representative Representing the 41st District, DuPage County Board Commissioner, District 5 and Chair, DuPage Complete Count Committee Sadia, Dr. Benny White, Naperville City Councilman said that Naperville, Todd Schuneman, Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873 Naperville, AND LaTiyfa D. Fields, Community Development Fellow, Metropolitan Mayors Caucus also addressed the virtual meeting
The presentations were followed by a Q &A session. Mayor Chirico and Ms. Marilyn Sanders wrapped up the highlights of the Panel Discussion.
The next 2020 Census Naperville Panel Discussion will be held on Thursday, August 27 beginning at 6 pm will be streamed on https://www.facebook.com/2020CensusNaperville.
