Everyone counts for Census 2020 and everyone needs to be counted. The City of Mount Clemens is getting help to encourage Census participation from a collaborative grant awarded through the Community Foundation of Southeastern Michigan. Advancing Macomb is partnering with the city and two local churches to provide outreach to historically undercounted communities in Mount Clemens to participate in the Census.  

The project focuses on working through the New Generation Church and Turner Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal to provide outreach and empowerment to community members by providing resources needed to historically undercounted populations in their own neighborhoods – the elderly, low income, kids under the age of 5, immigrants and young adults. The project reach includes the greater Mount Clemens / Clinton Township community. 

Mount Clemens is the seat of Macomb County and holds the highest poverty rate in the county at 22.3%. Like many Michigan cities, there is a lot that Mount Clemens stands to lose if residents lack the knowledge, resources and ability to participate in the census.  

Funds from the grant will be used to create public service announcement (PSA) videos featuring local personalities, community leaders and faith-based leaders to share resources, tutorials and other information about why participation is important, and how to complete the Census. The production of the videos will occur within the COVID-19 recommendations from local, state and federal health agencies. The faith-based leaders will use the videos before and after their virtual church services to capture the audience already participating. Other videos will be used for community social media pages and digital media.  

If the recommendations for social distancing lessen in the summer, the churches will host a community luncheon/dinner in July and August 2020 to share information about the Census and assist with participation. 

Objectives of the PSA videos and events are to:  

• Provide a central location for the broader community to receive information from a source that they trust. 
• Provide resources and training to church leaders from multiple sources to define why participation matters, communicate the safety and security measures in place for information provided, and instructions on how to complete the Census. 

• Provide materials and resources that participants can share with others in their community including neighbors and family members. 
• Encourage participants to share the videos on social media using contests and giveaways from local businesses.  
• Provide an opportunity for participants to complete the census at the later dinner events.  

As Advancing Macomb works to strengthen the county and region by connecting community challenges with high–impact solutions, we recognize the need to build civic infrastructure and drive investment into our communities. The data collected and decisions made from the results of the census will have a lasting impact on the quality of life of our residents and businesses. While there are great efforts already underway to get an accurate count in Macomb County, Advancing Macomb seeks areas in which we find gaps and works to provide extra support where possible. 

The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a full-service philanthropic organization leading the way to positive change in our region. As a permanent community endowment built by gifts from thousands of individuals and organizations, the Foundation supports a wide variety of activities benefiting education, arts and culture, health, human services, community development, and civic affairs. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $1 billion through nearly 69,000 grants to nonprofit organizations throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair, and Livingston counties. For more information, please visit www.cfsem.org.