Whether it involves undocumented immigrants or U.S. citizens, an undercount of state residents in the 2020 U.S. Census could have a negative impact on everyone who lives, works in or visits New Jersey, according to a coalition of elected officials and Latino clergy trying to insure an accurate count in the coming year.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and the N.J. Coalition of Latino Pastors and Ministers will kick-off a year-long campaign on Monday to raise awareness of the importance of an accurate count of the state’s population, which determines federal funding for a wide variety of projects and services available to everyone regardless of residency status, from literacy to highway maintenance.

“Everything from your public library, to schools to Medicaid dollars to transportation dollars to fix roads and potholes,” Steven Sandburg, a Menendez spokesman, said Sunday. “If we don’t get an accurate count, we get less money. And that effects everyone’s lives.”

In Newark on Monday, Menendez will join local officials and clergy members including the Rev. Bolivar Flores, Vice President of the N.J. Coalition of Latino Pastors and Ministers, for a Noon press conference at the Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Sinai church.

Although the 10-year head count and the federal funding levels that result from it have a potential impact on virtually anyone in the Garden State — and the Census does not ask residents about their legal residency or citizenship status — organizers say the awareness campaign will nonetheless be geared toward the Latino community.

That’s because, the campaign’s organizers say, Latinos may be less likely to answer a Census takers’ knock on the door due to uncertainty or feelings of intimidation resulting from the Trump administration’s strict immigration policies.

Under the campaign, organizers say pastors will integrate a “Get Out The Count” message into worship services, communicating what is at stake. Pastors will urge parishioners not to fear Census takers, and

inform or remind parishioners that the survey is easy to take, and that data will not be used against them.

Campaign volunteers will distribute flyers and bulletans outlining steps to complete Census surveys and answering to frequently asked questions, or FAQs.

A spokeswoman for the Latino pastors and ministers coalition, Wendy Martinez, said this year’s Census was unlike any other for the Latino community.

“Never before in our nation’s modern history has the faith-based leadership role in Census count mattered like 2020,” Martinez said in an email.

The logo for a campaign to kick off Monday in New Jersey by Latino clergy urging members of the state's Spanish speaking community to make themselves counted in the 2020 Census.N.J. Coalition of Latino Pastors and Ministers

Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips