DEMING, NM -- Community members from Luna, Hidalgo,and Grant counties are officially launching their Census 2020 Get Out the Count (GOTC) campaign to ensure families throughout all three counties in Southern New Mexico are counted in the 2020 Census. The GOTC campaign will include educational components and canvassing efforts throughout these counties in order to reach these historically hard to count communities. Here is a statement from NM CAFé:
“The census isn’t only vital for our families to receive the resources that we’ve inherently deserve. But for rural communities like Lordsburg and other communities here in our part of the state, this could decide if we’re still around in the next 10 years.“ - Pastor Joseph Hill, Assembly of God Church in Lordsburg, NM
The 2020 Census will officially begin accepting responses through their online tool on March 12. Census 2020 Get Out the Count campaign will run through May, encouraging Southern New Mexicans, regardless of their race, immigration status, age, etc. to fill out the Census and ensure that their communities get the resources they have earned and deserve.
“My tradition calls me to go to the margins to ensure that everyone is seen and welcomed. The census is an opportunity to make sure our communities have access to programs that support our children's education, infrastructure, and medical services.” - Christine Milo, from Saint Ana Catholic Church in Deming, NM
This public action also serves to prophetically launch NM CAFe’s work of building communities of belonging in the Southwestern part of the state. The census is an opportunity to build and engage communities around the key issue facing these communities. Areas such as the lack of mental health services, high rates of addiction and suicide, and building a moral economy that puts people first.
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NM Comunidades en Acción y de Fé (CAFé) is the largest faith-based grassroots movement organizing historically marginalized communities in Southern NM. We organize to reimagine a Southern NM that is working to transform the future of our communities and to live into the shared values of inclusion, dignity, power, love, faith & opportunities for all people.