skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Census 2020: Redoubling Efforts to Count Kids 5 and Younger

play audio
Play

Tuesday, June 16, 2020   

DENVER --The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way nonprofits delivering in-home early-childhood development programs connect with families.

As the deadline for the 2020 census draws nearer, Heather Tritten, executive director at Parent Possible, said her group's home visitors are reaching out to families by phone to remind them that participating in the census is safe and critical for funding programs children younger than 5 years old depend on. Tritten said for Colorado, $13 billion each year in federal funding is at stake.

"We pay those taxes to the federal government, and counting everybody that we can in the state makes sure that we get our share back," Tritten said. "And we can use that money to fund things like health care, food assistance, schools, early childhood programs, roads - all of those things that the federal government kicks in on."

Children younger than 5 historically have been undercounted in census tallies, and children's advocates worry controversy surrounding attempts by the Trump administration to add a citizenship question to the census - a move ultimately blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court - could lead to an undercount.

Tritten said it's important for parents to know that participating in the census is safe and that it's illegal for census workers to share personal information gathered in the count with any individual or government agency. She said the data is confidential and cannot be used to determine eligibility for government assistance.

"Any information you're giving to the census is not tied back to you as an individual, but it is combined with all of your neighbors and everybody else in the state so that we know how many people are here, and we can draw down those important federal funds for Colorado," she said.

Tritten said all children younger than 5, even those not yet enrolled in school, need to be counted so that funding is in place when they do enter school. She said kids who split time between different households should be counted in the home where they spent more than half their time before April 1 of this year. She said babies also should be counted, even if they were still in the hospital on or before April 1.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021