Artwork by [John P. Dessereau](https://www.instagram.com/johnsville.studio/). Courtesy of Join Projects and [Healthcare Education Project](https://healthcareeducationproject.org/).
During you-know-what, social media is keeping communities connected, entertained, and informed— and activists have taken notice. A group of talented young New York artists have united for a powerful digital PSA campaign around a seemingly low key cause that is critical to economic recovery: the 2020 census. Campaign participants include [Coco & Breezy](https://www.instagram.com/cocoandbreezy/), [Everyday People](https://www.instagram.com/everydayppl/?hl=en), [Molly Crabapple](https://twitter.com/mollycrabapple), [John P. Dessereau](https://www.instagram.com/johnsville.studio/), [The Queens Night Market](https://www.instagram.com/queensnightmarket/), and [the Brownsville Community Culinary Center](https://www.instagram.com/brownsvilleccc/).
The project is led by [**Healthcare Education Project**](https://healthcareeducationproject.org/), a community-based advocacy organization whose mission is to protect and expand access to quality, affordable healthcare for all New Yorkers. As New York is the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S., accurately funded and accessible healthcare is vital.
“It’s proven that our youth can move mountains by spreading awareness to affect change, in politics, in criminal justice reform, in innovative education. Now more than ever we need our youth to step up and be counted for the 2020 census, and be the reliable source of change for generations to come. Every ten years we have the opportunity to improve our communities‘ education systems, social services, public health and more with the census, and a full count will guarantee positive outcomes,” said Bronx Healthcare Advocate Jocelyn Lebron of the Healthcare Education Project.
For decades, communities of color, immigrant communities, and low-income communities have been persistently and [disproportionately undercounted for decades](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/datablog/2020/feb/27/2020-us-census-black-people-mistakes-count) and as a result it cripples these communities’ capacity to provide affordable housing, to maintain infrastructure, to provide education and health services, and to protect themselves when they have to battle a crisis like the one we are fighting today.
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