Council calls 2020 Census count crucial for nonprofits

The head of the Health and Welfare Council of Long Island stressed the importance of the 2020 Census to nonprofit agencies at an event at Farmingdale State College last week.

Rebecca Sanin, president and CEO of HWCLI addressed more than 150 health and human service executives from its network of nonprofit agencies  at the event on the importance of counting all Long Islanders in the upcoming 2020 Census to ensure the area receives its fair share of federal funding and representation in Congress.

“The 2020 Census will set a funding precedent for 10 years about what we can get and expect as a region,” Sanin told the attendees. “The Census impacts everything you-our network of nonprofits work on every day. It’s food security, economic security, education, opportunity-everything you stand for-and it’s a ten-year impact. We simply cannot miss this most important opportunity to stand for the notion that Long Island won’t be made afraid, that Long Island will come together and that we will be unified in getting our fair share for every corner of our communities.”

The event was billed as a state-of-the-state briefing and featured Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, who reassured the health and human service executives that any Medicaid cuts would not include cuts to consumer or to providers.

Hochul provided an overview of state initiatives on Long Island and about the importance of continuing to invest in Long Island’s infrastructure, downtowns, LIRR, tourism, public schools, and universities and colleges. During her address, Hochul also touched on the importance of the 2020 Census, housing for the homeless that integrates human service delivery, the opioid drug epidemic, healthcare, the environment, economic and downtown development and infrastructure.

Melville-based HWCLI is a not-for-profit, health and human services planning, education, and advocacy organization that serves Long Island’s at-risk and vulnerable individuals and families.