Council hears update on 2020 census plans

Local leaders, groups to be part of national effort

With 2019 nearly half over, one federal agency is already looking forward to 2020, and looking to recruit some local help.

“We’re just here for the count. We’re not here to collect Social Security numbers, or salary, or any of that,” said John Stelmachowicz, a Partnership Specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau.

“We’re just here to do an inventory of individuals who are here, in the United States,” he said.

Every 10 years the federal government performs a count of all residents across the county, Stelmachowicz told council during their June 19 meeting, and planning is already well underway for the 2020 effort.

“Each of us here, when we get counted, we represent thousands of guaranteed dollars in federal funding. So it is important for all of us to be counted,” he said.

With court rulings and headlines about the question of whether U.S. citizenship will be asked on the census form, Stelmachowicz said the bureau’s formal position is clear.

“Our position as the Census Bureau is, we’re a very neutral agency. Our position is, we’re here to count everyone,” Stelmachowicz said.

New for 2020 will be additional ways of completing the census form, including an online response portal in addition to traditional mailers, phone calls, and door to door visits. Forms will be available in over a dozen different languages, Stelmachowicz said, and the bureau is looking to link with local community leaders, organizations, and agencies like libraries and school boards to help spread the word.

“We’ll be recruiting a lot of local residents for 2020 census jobs, and all of those jobs can be done online,” Stelmachowicz said.

“We’d love to partner with community stakeholders to provide internet access and computers, so folks can apply to the jobs we’ll be offering, and also participate in the questionnaire,”

he said.

Those jobs include pay rates from $12 to $35 per hour, Stelmachowicz told council, and can be part- or full-time and involve work from home or in the field, with the closest bureau field office to be located in Nor- ristown and others in Allentown and Philadelphia.

“This is the largest

peacetime operation that the federal government undertakes. At full operational capacity, throughout the country and in full operational mode, we will be hiring over 600,000 people in making sure this census

is successful, and that we’ve got an accurate count,” he said.

The rest of 2019 will be dedicated to an education phase meant to make local residents aware that the census is upcoming,

followed by an awareness phase in January and February 2020, followed by a push to have residents submit their census forms by April 1, 2020. Households will receive mailed postcards with a unique house unit ID, Stelmachowicz told council, and that can be used to fill out a paper form or submit online, whichever is easier.

“Lansdale Borough has about 16,000 residents, and there’s about 6,500 households that are in Lansdale,” Stelmachowicz said.

“All of those households, whether it’s single residences, multi-unit residences, groups, homeless shelters, nursing homes, assisted living or longterm care facilities, and even folks incarcerated in the prison system: they will all be receiving a postcard, with a URL, encouraging those folks to respond online,” he said.

From May to July 2020 will be a reminder phase, following up with those who haven’t yet submitted their forms, with field canvassing to meet those residents in person running from August through October 2020, according to Stelmachowicz.

“This is where we need our trusted leadership, like you folks, We need you all to be ambassadors for the

2020 census,” Stelmachowicz said.

Those interested in learning more or signing up can do so online via www.Census.gov, and Stelmachowicz said borough staff will publicize updates and local information sessions through traditional town communication channels.

Council member Mary Fuller said she worked a temporary job for the Census Bureau during the 2000 census effort, and said she looks back on it fondly.

“It was an awesome experience, and Montgomery County does pay well to do that. I will be trying to help recruit, and I recommend it, for anybody who’s looking for some temporary stuff to do. it’s very interesting,” she said.

Councilman Jack Hansen added that he hopes anyone who takes the census is aware that any information given on a census form or to a census employee must, by law, remain confidential.

“One thing I don’t think can be stressed enough is the confidentiality of the census. We have to get this out: that when you provide information to a censustaker, it’s confidential,” he said.

“It’s not going to come back and haunt you, because a lot of people worry about that,” Hansen said.