FLINT, MI -- The Community Foundation of Greater Flint has awarded $300,167 in grants to local nonprofits working to ensure an accurate 2020 Census count.

Grants were distributed among 34 organizations and ranged from $2,100 to $20,000 each, depending on the project’s scope and geographic coverage, according to a Community Foundation of Greater Flint news release. Funding runs from December 2019 through August 2020. The Census count begins in April 2020.

in 2010 Census, 79.1 percent of Genesee County residents responded, said Director of Communications Mary Herbig.

This year, the foundation’s goal is to help the county raise the percentage of Census participation because the count helps communities create jobs, provide housing, fund K-12 education, prepare for emergencies and build schools, roads, hospitals and libraries.

In Genesee County, most of the city of Flint is considered a “hard to count area,” Herbig said.

Grant funding was available to organizations who work with “historically under-counted communities” in Flint and Genesee County. The foundation will continue to work with all nonprofit organizations interested in outreach efforts, including access to promotional materials, said Sue Peters, vice president of community impact.

“The Community Foundation is pleased to support local nonprofits that are key to get-out-the-count efforts, particularly in hard-to-count populations,” Peters said in a statement. “Those with the most to lose from an under-count are the hardest to count, including people of color, immigrants, young children and those traditionally served by nonprofits.”

The Community Foundation is partnering with the city of Flint and the Michigan Nonprofit Association in its Be Counted Michigan 2020 campaign, with support from the Council of Michigan Foundations and local funders including the C.S. Mott Foundation and Ruth Mott Foundation, the release reads.

Grants to Genesee County nonprofits include: