Everyone knows that Mayor Daley likes money.
Daley's city gets more of the green stuff in proportion to its population, so the mayor's pushing to get people counted in the census.
Last Wednesday Mayor Richard Daley helped launch the 2010 Chicago census urging everyone, especially people in immigrant and undercounted communities to participate.
"We've shown that continually with the undercount how much you lose in federal education funds and social services and housing and transportation. All the things that are needed here in this country, not just Chicago but all the cities," Daley said, according to WBEZ.
It's no secret that Illinois and Chicago are in a budget mess -- Illinois is facing a near $13 billion deficit.
Both the city and the state stand to lose lots of cash if their resident's don't fill out the census --- billions!
Researchers with the Brookings Institution – a Washington think-tank – found that in 2008 a good chunk of the federal funding Illinois received was tied to census counts. The state received $19.1 billion dollars and Chicago’s slice of that pie is $12.6 billion dollars, reports the Chicago Tribune.
It's not just money that's at stake. A lack of participation in census counting may have cost Illinois a U.S. Representative last time around, according to tradingmarkets.com.
Most households should get their census forms next week.
