Sunday, April 5th, 2020
As Americans across the country adjust to the new normal of the COVID-19 pandemic, priorities are understandably shifting. For many, things that once seemed important have been eclipsed by the urgent need to respond to the unprecedented challenges of this pandemic. Despite these difficulties, we cannot afford to let the 2020 Census fall to the wayside. It may not feel important now, but the Decennial Census occurs only once every 10 years and has far-reaching impacts from federal funding, civic representation, and policy decisions.
Convinced already?
Take just 10-minutes to fill out your 2020 Census questionnaire online at my2020census.gov
If you need further persuasion, here is what’s at stake:
Representation: The original impetus and the constitutional basis for the Decennial Census is to equitably allocate the 435 seats of the U.S. House of Representatives based on population. This process is called reapportionment and it occurs after every Decennial Census. Since the 1950 Census, New York State has lost at least one seat in the House over seven straight reapportionments, and its projected to lose another seat this time around. While reapportionment trends like this are primarily influenced by changes in population, states with a low census response rate are at risk of losing representation in the House as a result of an undercounted population.
Funding: The results of the census inform the allocation of funds from several different federal agencies such as the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). All told, around $800 billion in federal funding is distributed to states every year based, in part, on the results of the census. An accurate population count can be the difference between whether or not your community receives funding for things like critical infrastructure, housing, and other valuable community development programs.
Policy: The data collected by the census provides elected officials and decision makers with information that is necessary to make informed policy decisions. Professionals in the fields of planning, housing, finance, and more, all utilize information from the census. On a more personal note, we at Pattern for Progress are frequent users of census data. We rely on the census to enhance our understanding of local demographic trends and lay the groundwork for much of our research and policy recommendations.
Pandemic Impact: Conducting an accurate population count for a country of over 327 million people is an extremely difficult task under good conditions. Add a global pandemic to the mix, and things become even more complicated. The physical and mental toll of the COVID-19 pandemic may diminish the overall census response rate. Furthermore, limited mobility and social distancing measures resulting from the pandemic threatens the ability of the Census Bureau to safely follow up with those who do not respond to the questionnaire. In the face of this crisis, responding to your census questionnaire is even more impactful. Every questionnaire filled out online or sent in by mail is one less household for the Census Bureau to track down.
Spread the word: If you’re convinced of the importance of the 2020 census, now is the time to convince others. Fill out your own questionnaire and share this information with your friends and family. According to 2020 Census response rate data from the Census Bureau, as of April 3rd, New York State had a response rate of 38.3%. This response rate is below the national rate of 43.9% and ranks New York at 43rd among all states. We can do better.
