Census support taking to the streets
♦ Count Floyd County is hosting a motorcade to raise awareness about the 2020 count.
A group of people who live, work and serve Rome and Floyd County are ready to raise awareness of the 2020 U.S. Census by cruising town.
Count Floyd County — the local census count committee consisting of business and community leaders — will host a census motorcade Friday afternoon. Participants will drive from East Rome to West Rome along Turner Mccall Boulevard and Shorter Avenue while displaying signs and waving to pedestrians and fellow motorists.
Braden Keith, owner of Romega Digital and chair of Count Floyd County, said they are trying to find ways to keep awareness of the census up while still practicing social distancing amid the current COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m hoping we have a bunch of people come out,” Keith said. “We want them in their most interesting looking vehicles or just their average looking vehicles. The goal with the census right now is to drive awareness. We hope this will get people to remember to fill out the census as we drive through town.”
Motorcade participants will meet in the parking lot of Walmart, 825 Cartersville Highway, at 1 p.m. They’ll drive as a group down Turner Mccall to Home Depot, 103 Hicks Drive, and then down Shorter Avenue. They’ll end at Lowe’s Home Improvement, 2338 Shorter Ave.
Residents can respond to the census by going to my2020census.gov, calling 844330-2020 or returning the form they receive in the mail. Everyone is required to respond, and doing so now will minimize the need for census takers to go out into communities to follow up once this initial phase is completed.
The results of the once-a-decade count determine the number of seats each state has in Congress and are used to draw congressional and state legislative districts.
Data collected also affects planning and funding for infrastructure and the distribution of federal funding to hundreds of government programs — including Medicaid, community development, school lunch programs and Section 8 housing.
Floyd County’s rate of response to the 2020 U.S. Census had increased to 55.7% as of Wednesday from 54.1% on Saturday.
The rate is the percentage of households in the county that have completed the census. Rome’s rate was 52.3%, while Georgia’s rate was 53.9%.
“We’re doing great right now,” Keith said. “I lean on the positive and tell people, ‘look, your peers and neighbors are doing it, so join them and show the state and the nation what we can do when we come together.’”
Floyd County’s response rate for the 2010 census was 74%, down from the 2000 census, according to Keith. He said the census
is the thing people can take part in to have their voices truly heard in reshaping their communities.
“Corporations and businesses who are looking to relocate look at the census data for an area, so it’s important that the numbers are correct and accurately portray the make-up of Floyd County in order to attract those businesses,” Keith said.
He suggested that people make the census a family project and have children fill out the census for the household, either online or by mail.