BY THEA MARIE ROOD
“I’m African American, and when I was growing up, my family felt like nothing was the government’s business,” says Pastor Trena Turner, executive director of Faith in the Valley. “And that is still prevalent.”
Her organization, which has focused on phone-banking during COVID and has partnered with Bishop Brennan of the Fresno Diocese, makes an effort to explain Census information is protected and can’t be shared with other government entities. “You won’t lose your housing because you have more people living here,” she says. “And here’s what will definitely happen if you don’t participate: We won’t have the ability to build schools where we need them.”
In fact, when children walk 45 minutes to a bus stop to get to the only middle school they can attend, this is a result of people not being counted properly in the past. “You’re not just making a decision for right now, but for the next 10 years and beyond,” she says.
