WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)– NC Counts Coalition held a drive-thru census at the Martin Luther King Center Saturday to encourage areas with low turn out rates to register.
New Hanover residents could pull into the parking lot and register all from the comfort of their own cars.
The event featured music, prizes, and free food, and was distributed with little to no personal contact to keep people safe and lower the risk of contracting Covid-19.
The census impacts things from disaster relief funds, to our education system, and road construction.
The communications outreach director, Durrell Johnson says that by registering, you’re making sure you and and your community are not invisible.
“Anybody can participate in it. So it doesn’t matter if you’re a citizen or not…we need an accurate count of every single person in this state so we have the resources going forward,” Johnson says. “We’re talking about COVID response, natural disasters, things of that nature. So we really want that to be an accurate count so we can bring those resources that we need.”
Johnson says gathering census information during the pandemic has been difficult, but he hopes this event will help underrepresented communities get the resources they need.
