NVEN Partner MNA in the news: "Foundations fund effort for accurate census"

From Crain's Detroit Business:
Michigan nonprofits are being asked to play an unprecedented role to make sure each person in the state gets counted in the 2010 census.

In the absence of the typical $500,000 or so in state funding for census promotion, four foundations have stepped up with $300,000 in grants made to the Michigan Nonprofit Association for pass-through to other nonprofits for census promotion initiatives.

Those foundations are the Troy-based Kresge Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in Flint and the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation.

“While the current (state) budget discussions are important, they won't be as long-lasting as the consequences of the census,” said Kyle Caldwell, president of the Michigan Nonprofit Association.

Federal funding for the region and state for the next decade will hinge on the census count, said Sam Singh, former president of MNA and a consultant with Public Policy Associates, on loan to MNA for the census campaign.

For every person missed in the official count, an estimated $12,000 in federal funding will be lost over the next decade, he said, or about $1.2 million for every 1,000 people not counted.