 |
| Early educators like the Long Beach Day Nursery, pictured here, can use a new toolkit to encourage parents to participate in the 2010 Census. |
The California Community Foundation (CCF) and its grantee Families in Schools (FIS) on March 15 launched a user-friendly, educational toolkit for early care and preschool providers to help them encourage parents to participate in the 2010 Census and understand why it’s important that every child is counted.
“Children ages 0-5 are missed at a higher rate than any other age group and we must ensure that all children are counted in the census,” said Antonia Hernández, president and CEO at the foundation. “An accurate count of children will mean an increase of funding for early care and preschool programs, which we know jumpstarts children to be successful in school and in life. This toolkit offers specific ways for providers to encourage children and their parents to participate in the census, including dynamic lesson plans.”
In the 2000 Census, more than 1 million children under the age of 10 were not counted, including more than 750,000 children under age 5. This is because young children are more than three times as likely as adults to be living in households of seven or more people and might be overlooked in the census form. Young children are also more likely to live in more mobile families, live in rental units and live with an adult other than their parent.
“Quality early care and preschool programs promote lifelong success,” said Maria Casillas, president of Families in Schools, whose mission is to involve parents in their children’s education. “The material will help ensure children ages 0-5 are counted in the 2010 Census. An accurate count will secure valuable funds to support these programs.”
The census toolkit includes lesson plans on how to get children involved in counting the members of their family and helping them see the connection between counting and having enough resources for everyone; a fact sheet on why an accurate count matters and 10 things providers can do to get involved; and a brochure that provides resources, such as census toll-free help lines in six languages, and answers questions parents may have about the census.
Download the toolkit.
Read more about the 2010 Census Initiative and how you can help.
|
