A professional dance company in the Quad Cities is working with children to promote the importance of this year's U.S. Census.
CEO Jody Cook says each year, members of Ballet Quad Cities encourage kids to read by choreographing a book with them, and this year it's "Look Where We Live ! A First Book of Community Building."
"That's the message that these grade school children are taking home to their families - that everyone can be counted and that they are important too."
Their goal is to help the kids, and their families, understand participating in the census is not scary or political, but a way to help make their community better.
Each presentation begins with the dancers reading the story of "Look Where We Live" to the children.
"And once they have heard the whole story, then go back and they choreograph a phrase to each page. Then they put the music on, they put it all together, and the students have choreographed the entire book."
Cook says by the end of next month, Ballet Quad Cities will have worked with thousands of school children, plus service clubs and other organizations, to emphasize the importance of the U.S. Census and an accurate count.
