Census 2010: Christmas Posters and Resources

December 22 marks 100 days until Census Day, April 1, 2010. As a component of its census outreach, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF) is encouraging faith leaders and community based organizations to organize activities that highlight a message of participation in the upcoming census.

Whatever holidays you celebrate, LCCREF encourages making a clear connection between the spirit of the season and the importance to your communities of a complete and accurate census.

For example, there are clear and easy ways to link the Christmas story with census. According to the Gospel According to Luke, Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, because of a Roman census.

LCCREF, in partnership with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), NAACP, Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), has developed several materials to help, including:

A poster depicting Joseph and Mary on their way to Bethlehem for the census; it is available in English, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese and Creole.
Sample bulletins, which can be placed in churches in your community.
Sample readings, which reflect on the Biblical story and the importance of the 2010 census.

The primary message is: "Joseph and Mary participated in the census…you should too."

Suggested Activities for Faith Leaders and Community Based Organizations:

Identify and encourage facilities of worship to make the connection between the census and the spirit of the holidays. For example, you could ask specific churches to display the LCCREF poster and distribute the bulletin in their churches on or before Sunday, December 20th.
Encourage faith leaders to make announcements about the importance of a complete count. For example, you could ask pastors to talk about the census and/or to share the census Christmas reading with their congregations.
Partner with other communities of faith that represent communities of color to hold a press conference on Tuesday, December 22nd, to highlight what faith leaders are doing in connection with the 100-day countdown to Census Day.

For more information, please contact the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund at census@civilrights.org.

Below are posters, background information, and a church bulletin for downloading and printing.

Christmas and the Census: Information and Suggested Readings

Church Bulletin (Print double sided)