HITN presented a virtual LIVE Youth Shout Out to celebrate nearly three hundred 4th grade students who participated in a city-wide Census Essay writing contest to compete for the title of HITN Student Census Ambassador New York City. This event is part of an on-going HITN campaign in collaboration with Schneps Media https://www.schnepsmedia.com/ and CUNY https://www.cuny.edu/ to raise awareness for participation in the Census with a special focus on the need for children to be counted in Census 2020.

¡Tú Cuentas! Live Youth Shout Out was led by Naomi Rivera, Executive Director, Government Affairs at HITN. The program kicked off with opening remarks from Executive Director of the New York City Census Julie Menin, “I can’t thank you enough on behalf of the City of New York for helping us to make sure we are getting the funding and the political power that our city deserves.” She added, “It’s your future that we are talking about, and you’re playing such an important role in helping us.” The ¡Tú Cuentas! Live Youth Shout Out also gathered city-wide community leaders such as Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, New York State Senator Luis Sepulveda, New York State Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer- Amato, and New York State Assemblyman Charles Falls. All joined the live event to give their special greetings and congratulatory messages to the audience of teachers, principals, parents, and 4th-grade students from each borough.

The program featured the students who wrote essays and proudly shared their hard work and answered questions on the importance of an accurate count, and what it means for them, their families, and their communities. The special program was energized with Live beats from DJ Lopez, who virtually traveled with HITN from one borough to the next spinning music during shout outs and congratulatory messages between boroughs and schools. The voting is now open to the public. CUNY Corps https://www.cuny.edu/ has selected the finalists, and now families, students, neighbors, and the community can meet the finalists, read their essays, and cast their votes on https://censusessay.hitn.org from now through 8/16/20.

Catch the program here:

Tu Cuentas! LIVE YOUTH SHOUT OUT! https://vimeo.com/442769074