A star-studded line-up — including Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lucy Liu and Martin Luther King III — will spearhead the state’s 2020 Census efforts to make sure no New Yorker is left uncounted, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday.
Miranda, Liu and King will be honorary co-chairs of the state’s new Census Council, which will use their influence to raise awareness about the count and work with advocates, nonprofits and local officials to bolster response rates, Cuomo’s office said in a release.
“Representation matters and is vital for the fair allocation of federal funds to all of our communities,” Miranda said in a statement.
“I encourage my neighbors to stand up and be counted and I hope that everyone across the nation will do the same. We’re at the start of a new decade and an accurate census makes a huge difference to all of us.”
Cuomo, who has already invested $60 million into the Census effort, proposed an additional $10 million Monday.
That spending is on top of $19 million the city is spending as part of their “Complete the Count” program.
“The census has dramatic effects on this state. It determines the representation in Congress. It determines how many electoral votes you get, and it’s the basis for distribution of federal funding,” Cuomo said in a statement.
During the 2010 Census, New York was ranked 45th in the nation with a 76% response rate — a gap the state is eager to close as it stands to lose two congressional seats in the wake of sinking population trends.
Cuomo’s office said New Yorkers will start receiving educational information in the mail over the next two weeks on the survey with instructions from the federal government expected in March.



