CENTRAL JERSEY ALUMNAE CHAPTER OF DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY, INC. PREPARES COMMUNITY FOR THE U.S. CENSUS

Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter Held Multi-Location Targeted Outreach for

Census Action Day NJ

[SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY, NOVEMBER 21] Saturday, November 16, 2019, was Census Action Day NJ and the members of the Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter (CJA) of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. were proud to participate. Under the direction of the chapter’s Social Action Committee (SAC), members embarked on a multi-location campaign to communicate to the community the importance of completing the census in an effort to ensure that everyone gets counted – especially children. Data shows that children are a Hard to Count population because they are often excluded when parents complete the census. As a result, the appropriate funding and services are frequently not allocated for them. Accordingly, CJA divided responsibilities and held campaigns in multiple locations to reach parents by sharing literature and engaging in conversation about the census, budget allocations, and the ramifications of failure to have a complete count on communities. A group of CJA members spent time addressing parents at the Inspira Performing Arts and Cultural Center in New Brunswick. Although most parents were primarily from the New Brunswick and Franklin Township areas, there were also visitors from California and Florida who were enthralled with the information received and indicated they would share it with their own communities. As such, the chapter’s reach has now potentially expanded to additional states.

Also on Saturday, the chapter’s Economic Development Committee simultaneously hosted a Financial Literacy Program for single mothers at First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset. CJA members converged there to communicate the same message about counting children on the census. The chapter’s Delta Academy Committee, which provides mentoring and STEM based activities for middle school girls in grades 6-8, assisted SAC members by providing literature to parents at their event at Clinton Elementary School in Plainfield. In addition, CJA partnered with the Omicron Chi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. who supported Census Action Day NJ by distributing CJA’s census literature at its own service activity at the Park Hotel in Plainfield. The fraternity was instrumental in reaching another Hard to Count population, African American men. CJA is proud to be designated as a Complete Count Committee and will continue to promote the census through locally based, targeted outreach efforts.

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. was founded on January 13, 1913 by 22 collegiate women at Howard University to promote academic excellence and provide assistance to those in need. It is an organization of college educated women committed to the constructive development of its members and to public service with a primary focus on the Black community. The Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter was chartered in 1975 and serves Middlesex, Somerset, and Union counties. The current Chapter President is Karen Wade Culp. To learn more about Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Incorporated, please visit the National website at www.deltasigmatheta.org. To learn more about the Central Jersey Alumnae Chapter, please visit www.cjadeltas.org.

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