On Monday, the Hudson Valley Justice Center attended the Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration presented by New York State Senate Majority leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and State Senator Shelley B. Mayer at the United Community Center of Westchester in New Rochelle.
The event recognized Jackeline A. Agudelo, a community leader from Westchester who has done incredible work in the community. Jackeline is the founder and executive director of the United Community Center of Westchester. Jackie helps to provide critical resources that bring legal and immigration assistance, health care, education, food refuge and emergency assistance to those in need. Jackie is an immigrant herself from the Dominican Republic and has worked her whole life for important immigrant causes and to better her community. The Hudson Valley Justice Center extends warm congratulations to Jackeline for all her hard work and dedication!
The event featured a panel on Community Tactics for the 2020 Census: What You Can Do to Ensure A Complete Count. The panel featured Jeff Behler the Regional Director, U.S Census Bureau for New York, Jirandy Martinez the Executive Director of the Community Resource Center in Mamaroneck which is a non-profit community-based organization dedicated to empowering new immigrants, and Zeltzyn Sanchez Gomez the Co-Chair of the Village of Port Chester Complete Count Committee which is focused on ensuring all Port Chester residents are counted in the 2020 census. There was also a performance by the local dance troupe Alma Solana by John Meca (teacher), Lupita Barajas, Gonzalo Cruz and Adriano Chapar.
The census panel covered many important topics such as:
Why is the Census important? The Census asks questions that provide a snapshot of the nation. When you fill out the census you help in determining how many seats your state gets in congress, guides how more than $675 billion in federal funding is distributed to states and communities each year and helps create jobs, provide housing, prepare for emergencies, and build schools, roads and hospitals.
Is the census confidential? Yes! The responses to the census are safe, secure and protected by federal law. The answers can only be used for statistics and cannot be used against you in any way. By law, all responses to the U.S census bureau household and business surveys are kept completely confidential this includes government agencies, immigration authorities or law enforcement.
The Hudson Valley Justice Center encourages everyone to respond to the Census!
For more information on the census visit census.gov and visit hvjc.org for important updates.
