Census makes sure counties get ‘fair share’ METHODS TO SELF RESPOND
Census workers will officially begin knocking on doors on Aug. 11 to count residents who have not yet responded to their census questionnaires.
Census workers will have a photo ID and a device showing the U.S. Department of Commerce seal; they will also wear masks, have hand sanitizer, practice social distancing and conduct the interview outside, Assistant Regional Census Manager Marilyn Stephens said.
Every 10 years Americans can take less than 10 minutes to make sure their states and counties receive their fair share of funds, Stephens stressed.
“We don’t want to send money back because of a lack of participation,” she said.
Residents should soon begin seeing advertisements about census takers contacting those who have not responded. Stephens said the Census Bureau is urging those who do not wish a visit from the census workers to “Avoid the knock. Self respond today.”
Residents may still complete the census by phone, online or mail-in paper form. The 2020 Census is the first offering three options for self-response.
Census data collection will conclude at the end of September.
Census data determines how federal funding will be disbursed for schools, healthcare, hunger, infrastructure and emergency services over the next decade. The data from this count also determines the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives and is used to draw congressional and state legislative districts.
According to a Aug. 4 tally by the U.S. Census Bureau, Walker County’s self-response rate of 57.1% lags behind Catoosa County’s 66.8%, Georgia’s 58.7% rate and the nation’s 62.9% rate.
The lowest participation rate in Walker County is in the census tract around zip codes 30707 (Chickamauga) and 30731 (Menlo), where participation is 50.7%. The lowest participation rate in Catoosa is in census tracts around zip code 30742 (Fort Oglethorpe), where participation is as low as 59.3% while one the census tract in the center of the county with zip code 30736 (Ringgold) has achieved a 73.3% self-response rate, according to Census Bureau data.
Stephens said she was pleased with Catoosa’s rate and urges more counties to push to exceed the state’s response rate.
The head of each household should fill out the census for every person in the home at the time of the count, including any relatives or friends who are temporarily residing in the home. In shared custody situations, children should be counted where they slept on April 1.
Census workers will ask the name, birth date and number of residents in each household and a question about whether the residents own,
The U.S. Census Bureau urges Georgians to “Avoid the Knock. Self respond today.” by filling out their census on-line at 2020census.gov, calling the U.S. Census Bureau at 1-844-3302020 or mailing in their forms. The process is simple and takes less than 10 minutes.
The constitutionally-mandated head count of every person living in the United States has been conducted since 1790.
Every person counted in Walker County represents about $2,300 in federal funds for things like school breakfast and lunch programs, student loans, housing and energy assistance, Medicaid, highway planning and construction, transit grants and supplemental nutrition programs like WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), according to county officials.
The impact of an undercount can last a decade because population estimates and projections are based on census counts.
Census responses are kept confidential for 72 years. Then National Archives and Records Administration releases the information to the public for genealogy research.