Census Subway Series pits Jamaica against Canarsie

Census volunteers encourage Queens residents to complete their U.S. Census. Eagle file photo by Rachel Vick

By David Brand

Let’s go, Queens. This is for bragging rights — and billions of dollars in federal funding.

The city’s Census 2020 agency is kicking off a Subway Series of sorts, pitting neighborhoods across the five boroughs against one another to see which community can generate the highest Census response rate.

The first match up pits Jamaica against Canarsie, Brooklyn. 

Jamaica currently clocks in at a 49.4 percent response rate — far below the national response rate of 63.8 percent and lower than the boroughwide rate of 56.6 percent.

Meanwhile, just 47.9 percent of Canarsie households have completed their census forms. 

Residents of the competing neighborhoods are eligible for a $1,000 Seamless gift cards (six people win that), a $50 Lyft credit and annual CitiBike membership (100 people get those) and an annual membership to The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 (there will be 25 recipients). Anyone who completes the Census can register to receive a prize.

President Donald Trump recently cut the census time frame by a month, making it even more difficult for outreach workers to connect with millions of New Yorkers and encourage them to fill out their short forms.

“The 2020 Census will be a critical component of New York City’s recovery after COVID-19,” said NYC Census 2020 Director Julie Menin. “That means we must do everything we can to achieve a complete and accurate count, and fight Donald Trump’s attempts to steal the census.”

The census takes less than ten minutes to complete and is available online at 2020census.gov. 

New York needs a complete count to obtain as much federal funding as possible and to maintain the state’s Congressional delegation.

Fill out the census right now.