Banner reminding people to fill out their census form online, by phone, or on paper

A Brighter Future Can Happen with a #Census2020 Complete Count

For the last six weeks, everyone across the United States has experienced the worldwide pandemic and quarantine from the COVID019 coronavirus. Many have also experienced illness, loss of jobs and income, and in some cases, death of loved ones.

But America will eventually come back from this COVID-19 pandemic. We are all looking for a brighter future where we will eventually have family gatherings, concerts, and sporting events again.

When we do, we will need funding to help sustain the infrastructure to help make this happen. Infrastructure like our parks, our ballfields, our roads, our schools, our healthcare facilities, our transportation, and our economy. This infrastructure is overseen and funded by multiple entities, including the federal government.

The 2020 Census helps make this happen. Completion of the Census affects how much funding your community receives, how your community plans for the future, and how you are represented at all levels of government. For each person that completes the Census, the community will receive an estimated $2600/year/person in grants and funding from the federal government.

As of Thursday, May 7, 2020, 58 percent of the US population has completed their Census forms. Pennsylvania is doing a bit better at 61 percent. But we need a COMPLETE count in every community so that we can each receive our fair share of the federal funds and representation in our governmental bodies at the federal and state levels.

You can help out your community when it comes back from the COVID-19 pandemic by filling out your #2020Census form. You can fill out your form online today at http://my2020census.gov, over the phone at 844-330-2020, or by mail.

Let’s make it a brighter future for all. Thank you.

Children Count Too

April 1 was Census Day. That’s the day that you are counted as living in the United States. But that doesn’t mean that you missed your chance to be counted.

As of May 3, only about 57 percent of the US population has completed their Census forms.

But we need everyone to be counted. The US Census Bureau is still asking you to fill out your census form. It’s time.

You count. Your children also count. So… remember to include your children, including newborns born on or before April 1, when you fill out your Census form.

As the Census Borough states, not only do your responses help us adults, it also helps the kids:

Census results affect planning and funding for education—including programs such as Head Start, Pell Grants, school lunches, rural education, adult education, and grants for preschool special education.

https://2020census.gov/en/community-impact.html

By each of us completing our forms, both my community and your community can get the federal funds necessary to help keep our schools and community vibrant. FYI, for every person listed, your community will receive an estimated $2,600 per year per person for the next ten years from the US Treasury.

You can complete your census form online at http://my2020Census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020, or by mail.

Thank you, once again.

Banner advertsing the 2020 Census

Social Distancing and the US Census

I co-chair the Bellefonte Borough Census Complete Counts Committee. This committee is made up of members of the communty who are working with the US Census Bureau to help ensure that everyone in our town is counted in the 2020 Census.

Over time we have done several outreach efforts. At the beginning of March, before the pandemic spread to Pennsylvania, we hand-delivered postcards to every household in town. It included a picture of the letter that the US Census Bureau sent out to everyone on approximately March 15.

A copy of the face of the envelope that the US Census Bureau sent out on March 15 to encourage people to fill out their Census forms.

The borough is putting a one-sentence reminder to all households and businesses that pay for utilities in town to remember to fill out the census.

We also created banners that went up on our two main streets in town reminding people to “Participate in the 2020 Census.”

Census Banner over South Allegheny Street, Bellefonte, PA.

We had also planned on holding drop-in centers around town to help the public fill out their Census forms. But due to the coronavirus pandemic and the shelter-at-home/social distancing orders, these assistance centers were canceled.

Instead, we are attempting to send out a message on social media during this era of social distancing, to take a few minutes to fill out your Census form in the safety of your home. You can do it online at http://my.2020Census.gov, by phone at 844-330-2020, or by mail once you receive your paper version of the Census.

We have spread the word through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Reddit, Pinterest, and Youtube. Here is the first one posted on YouTube.

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The beaches and businesses in two Southern states are opening up in the middle of the COVID-19 epidemic. On April 27, the number of U.S. confirmed cases is 1,010,507, and the number of deaths is 56,803, just short of the 58,220 U.S. military fatalities in the 20 years of the Vietnam War. The actual number […]

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