Deputy Director Gives 2020 Census Update
May 21, 2020 at 1:14 a.m.
Deputy Director Gives 2020 Census Update
By David [email protected]
Johnson, via telephone, was one of the panelists at the weekly coronavirus press briefing at Warsaw City Hall.
In terms of how the nation is actually responding, she said everyone, including the state of Indiana, has really stepped it up.
“We want to encourage residents to continue to continue to respond. So, as of today, the national response rate is 59.6%. That’s pretty significant considering what we’re in right now, in terms of combatting COVID-19,” Johnson said.
She announced that in Indiana, the average response rate is 64.6%, and Warsaw’s is 62.9%.
“So that’s really fantastic,” Johnson said, adding that the Census hopes to see that continue to grow. “We are very thankful for the outreach that’s taken place. We recognize that we can not do this without strong partners. Mayor (Joe Thallemer), I tell you, we are very fortunate to have you and your team working in the area to make sure that the residents there are counted.”
She stressed to anyone watching the livestream of the news conference that the census “is safe, it’s important and it’s important.”
Johnson began her remarks by talking about how the pandemic has affected the census this year. The census is conducted every 10 years.
“Yes, it has been a challenge for us, but we really, really appreciate you, Mayor, and your commitment and hard work toward ensuring a complete count in your area,” she said.
She said the Census Bureau has been working for more than a decade on the 2020 Census to make sure that everyone is counted, and counted only once and in the right place.
“It is extremely important for us, particularly in this environment. With the current situation, of course, impacting the entire country and across the world, at the Census Bureau we want to continue to monitor our operation based on the guidance from the (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), our health authority, to ensure that not only is the public safe during this time, but to make sure our staff is working in the most safe environment we can provide for them,” Johnson said.
By far, she said, the 2020 Census is the “easiest” to complete and has the “easiest” ways to respond to it. Johnson said they’re pushing people to use the toll-free number to respond at 844-330-2020, as well as the website at 2020Census.gov. If a person receives the Census form by mail, she said they should fill it out and mail it back.
The results of the census affects the amount of federal dollars returned to communities as well as how they’re represented.
A “special message” she wanted to get out was that college students, who are at home during this time due to COVID-19, should be counted at where they attend school. The Census is working with colleges and universities to make sure their students are counted.
Johnson said, in coordination with state and local health officials, the Census has begun to drop off 2020 Census questionnaire packets at people’s front doors at over 31,000 households in Indiana. The delivery areas are places that don’t have traditional mail delivery service or may have lower internet connectivity. She told Thallemer that the Census is dropping off more than 2,000 forms to his area this week.
“In response to the pandemic, we have significantly adjusted operation timeline, including the Update Leave operation. The public is now actually have to respond until Oct. 31. That is an extension of our timeline, which originally was at the end of July, but now we’re going all the way through the end of October to ensure that our residents are counted,” Johnson said.
Census workers are gearing up now to visit households that have not responded. That operation originally was scheduled to start in May but has been pushed to Aug. 11 to Oct. 31.
“So we’ve made some adjustments, and we want to make sure that residents across the great state of Indiana are aware of these adjustments,” she said.
To prevent people from being scammed, Johnson said the Census Bureau tracks the different kinds of scams. It also has a page on its website called the Rumors Page. She encouraged people to check that out.
“We try to make sure we’re keeping up with that,” she said. “We also, through our headquarters, try to stay in touch with law enforcement. Plenty of times we hear of any type of new activity that may be occurring on the ground, we want to make sure that we have the type of relationship with the mayor where we can pick up the phone and we can call the mayor or he can call us if there’s anything new that’s kind of surfacing.”
She said the Census teams try to stay in communication with headquarters about any possible scams that are reported.
“We do have a very active page on our website, 2020Census.gov, called Rumors Page and we really try to track those things to make sure that if there’s any rumors or anything new surfacing, that the media is aware of those as well,” she said.
Census employees have “very clear” identification markers, including the bags and badges that they carry.
“We know that there’s a lot of creative things happening in terms of scams across the country, so again, that’s why we try to work very closely with law enforcement so that we have that type of line of communication to kind of curtail anything that’s happening in the field,” she said.
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Johnson, via telephone, was one of the panelists at the weekly coronavirus press briefing at Warsaw City Hall.
In terms of how the nation is actually responding, she said everyone, including the state of Indiana, has really stepped it up.
“We want to encourage residents to continue to continue to respond. So, as of today, the national response rate is 59.6%. That’s pretty significant considering what we’re in right now, in terms of combatting COVID-19,” Johnson said.
She announced that in Indiana, the average response rate is 64.6%, and Warsaw’s is 62.9%.
“So that’s really fantastic,” Johnson said, adding that the Census hopes to see that continue to grow. “We are very thankful for the outreach that’s taken place. We recognize that we can not do this without strong partners. Mayor (Joe Thallemer), I tell you, we are very fortunate to have you and your team working in the area to make sure that the residents there are counted.”
She stressed to anyone watching the livestream of the news conference that the census “is safe, it’s important and it’s important.”
Johnson began her remarks by talking about how the pandemic has affected the census this year. The census is conducted every 10 years.
“Yes, it has been a challenge for us, but we really, really appreciate you, Mayor, and your commitment and hard work toward ensuring a complete count in your area,” she said.
She said the Census Bureau has been working for more than a decade on the 2020 Census to make sure that everyone is counted, and counted only once and in the right place.
“It is extremely important for us, particularly in this environment. With the current situation, of course, impacting the entire country and across the world, at the Census Bureau we want to continue to monitor our operation based on the guidance from the (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), our health authority, to ensure that not only is the public safe during this time, but to make sure our staff is working in the most safe environment we can provide for them,” Johnson said.
By far, she said, the 2020 Census is the “easiest” to complete and has the “easiest” ways to respond to it. Johnson said they’re pushing people to use the toll-free number to respond at 844-330-2020, as well as the website at 2020Census.gov. If a person receives the Census form by mail, she said they should fill it out and mail it back.
The results of the census affects the amount of federal dollars returned to communities as well as how they’re represented.
A “special message” she wanted to get out was that college students, who are at home during this time due to COVID-19, should be counted at where they attend school. The Census is working with colleges and universities to make sure their students are counted.
Johnson said, in coordination with state and local health officials, the Census has begun to drop off 2020 Census questionnaire packets at people’s front doors at over 31,000 households in Indiana. The delivery areas are places that don’t have traditional mail delivery service or may have lower internet connectivity. She told Thallemer that the Census is dropping off more than 2,000 forms to his area this week.
“In response to the pandemic, we have significantly adjusted operation timeline, including the Update Leave operation. The public is now actually have to respond until Oct. 31. That is an extension of our timeline, which originally was at the end of July, but now we’re going all the way through the end of October to ensure that our residents are counted,” Johnson said.
Census workers are gearing up now to visit households that have not responded. That operation originally was scheduled to start in May but has been pushed to Aug. 11 to Oct. 31.
“So we’ve made some adjustments, and we want to make sure that residents across the great state of Indiana are aware of these adjustments,” she said.
To prevent people from being scammed, Johnson said the Census Bureau tracks the different kinds of scams. It also has a page on its website called the Rumors Page. She encouraged people to check that out.
“We try to make sure we’re keeping up with that,” she said. “We also, through our headquarters, try to stay in touch with law enforcement. Plenty of times we hear of any type of new activity that may be occurring on the ground, we want to make sure that we have the type of relationship with the mayor where we can pick up the phone and we can call the mayor or he can call us if there’s anything new that’s kind of surfacing.”
She said the Census teams try to stay in communication with headquarters about any possible scams that are reported.
“We do have a very active page on our website, 2020Census.gov, called Rumors Page and we really try to track those things to make sure that if there’s any rumors or anything new surfacing, that the media is aware of those as well,” she said.
Census employees have “very clear” identification markers, including the bags and badges that they carry.
“We know that there’s a lot of creative things happening in terms of scams across the country, so again, that’s why we try to work very closely with law enforcement so that we have that type of line of communication to kind of curtail anything that’s happening in the field,” she said.
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