By Steve Klamkin WPRO News
Members of a state-appointed panel are offering cautious applause for U.S. Supreme Court decision, putting a hold on Trump administration efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census.
The “Rhode Island Complete Count Committee” members say they will present Governor Gina Raimondo with a report on Friday outlining ways they plan to press ahead with plans for promoting participation in the 2020 census.
“Today’s decision is a very complicated one, and it presents a temporary victory,” said Marcela Betancur, Director of the Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University.
“However, as we’ve said from the beginning, we have one mission, and it’s to count every single person in the state of Rhode Island in the 2020 census.”
“Rhode Island is particularly vulnerable to an undercount in the 2020 census,” said John Marion, Executive Director of Common Cause of Rhode Island, also a member of the Complete Count Committee.
“An undercount could cost us political representation and it could cost us federal funding that provides health care, education, roads, public safety and other vital federal services,” Marion said.
“The statewide Complete Count Committee will present an outreach plan to Governor Raimondo that details our efforts over the next 14 months to get out the count in Rhode Island,” he said, adding the panel has about $500,000 in grants and other funding to support its outreach efforts.
