New mural in East End holds powerful message

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A new mural in Houston's East End is reminding residents to fill out the census before the deadline.

As of Thursday, Sept.17, the city of Houston's self-response rate is 57.4%, which is lower than the statewide rate of 61.6% and the nationwide rate of 65.9%.

SEE MORE: Make yourself count in the 2020 census

"There's so much hesitancy from people to respond to anything that's government related, especially when you're asking people to give their personal information," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. "But, it's nine questions. It's not difficult. Your information will not be shared. We have an obligation to count everybody, whether you're documented or undocumented, regardless of where you come from."

There are no citizenship questions on the survey.

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"It's about counting all residents, not all citizens," said deputy director of the Kinder Institute, Kyle Shelton. "It's about counting every resident in our region, because that's how we get that federal allotment."

The mayor stressed the importance of the census data saying, "for every one percentage point that we fail to count, that's about $250 million for the city of Houston that we will not be receiving for your streets, your neighborhoods, your families, your libraries and your hospitals."

"It is even more important today that everybody be counted because of what we're seeing in our government and how important resources are," added state Senator Carol Alvarado. "Resources depend on numbers. That's why we need everybody to stand up and be counted. Es muy importante."

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