The upcoming Census could impact New Jersey in a negative way

A consortium of both non-profit and advocacy groups are urging Governor Murphy to allocate $9 million to ensure the every ten year census accurately counts all New Jersey residents.

According to NJSpotlight, billions of dollars in federal funding are at stake, as well as the possibility of losing a seat in the house of representatives we have in Congress (we lost a seat after the 2010 count).

The groups also point out that New Jersey is one of the worst states for the amount of money they get back from the federal government and an accurate census could help improve that. New Jersey also has some historically hard to count populations. The last census may have undercounted our residents by tens of thousands. The census count is used to determine the amount of federal dollars allotted to states for programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, special education and many others. The census will start next April.

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