By now, most of you will probably have heard something about the 2020 census. The census happens every 10 years and it is important that every person living in the United States be counted.  We need all hands-on deck to get an accurate count for the 2020 census.  

By participating in the census, you can positively impact your community and your region.  It is also important that you do your part to ensure that all kids are counted. By all kids we particularly mean those children age 0-5 years. Here is why. The census has historically undercounted children age 0- 5 years. In fact, it is believed that children under five are the most undercounted population.

In the 2010 census we missed counting 1 in 10 children. We have to do better in 2020 census. Big or small, count all kids. Who are ALL kids in Wisconsin?

By all kids, the 2020 Census means every kid who stays at your address as of April 1, 2020

• even if you are not their parent (grandkids, foster kids, nieces, nephews, or even your friend’s kids count if they are staying with you);
• even if they are still babies;
• even if you are not a citizen of the United States.

Accurate counting helps the federal government to direct resources more appropriately. For every person undercounted, a community loses $2,000 per person per year for 10 years, or $20,000 per person.  The census provides the basis for distributing more than $675 billion in federal funds annually to communities across the country to support vital programs impacting housing, education, transportation, employment, healthcare and public policy.  The census is also used to redraw congressional boundaries and state legislative districts and accurately determine the number of congressional seats each state has in the United States House of Representatives.

The census is quick. It only takes 10 minutes to complete.

The census is safe. There are laws around confidentiality to protect participants.

The census is so important in an effort to ensure that those communities with the highest needs get the resources and funding to support those needs.

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the timeline for the census has been adjusted.

The timeline is listed below:

• March 12-August 14– Self Response can be done online and some households will also receive paper questionnaires.
• March 29 – May 1 – If you haven’t responded yet, a paper copy will be delivered to your door.

Regardless of which method, you use to complete the census, don’t delay, help ensure that Wisconsin has a complete count of all kids.   Let’s make Wisconsin the number one state as we were in 2010 for completing the census.  

For further information, visit https://kidsforward.org/census/

Corinda Rainey-Moore