Increase the Peace push for census participation among Latinos
CHICAGO (WLS) -- An anti-violence movement has shifted its focus to the 2020 census.
"Increase the Peace" organizers are encouraging Chicago's Latino community to fill out their census forms.
RELATED: Chicago 'Census Cowboy': Mayor Lightfoot urges census participation in low response wards
Director and Co-Founder of Increase The Peace, Berto Aguayo, joined ABC7 Chicago to tell us about their efforts.
Aguayo said the Brighton Park neighborhood is seeing a response rate that is half of the state average. He said the state average is 66%, but the neighborhood is seeing a 33% response rate.
RELATED: Chicago's 2020 census response worse than Illinois, national average, US bureau says
He said his main goal is to decrease violence and increase the peace, which he believes needs to start with brining more resources through the census into communities. Some of those resources could include more schools, better parks, and insuring young people have the services they need to thrive.
Earlier this month Lightfoot also launched a citywide challenge to try an encourage residents in all 50 wards to take part in the 2020 census.
Each ward will compete to see who makes the most progress over the next ten days and starting on July 9, progress can be tracked on a virtual leaderboard at census2020.chicago.gov.
The winner of the challenge will get ice cream for all young people in the ward.
The mayor's office said the city could lose between $1,400-$1,800 every year for each resident missed by the census. For more information on completing the census, visit my2020census.gov.
Census workers will start going door to door later this month.
To get involved with Increase the Peace, visit their Facebook page.
