2020 is the year of the Census! As early as the second week of March, households across the country will be receiving important notifications in the mail about filling out the Census.

Every 10 years, the U.S. government conducts a thorough count of the country’s population. The next Census, as this count is known, will take place in the spring of 2020. In 2010, the count reached 309 million.  The decennial Census, which is mandated by the U.S. Constitution, is about much more than compiling a demographic snapshot of our nation. It is about the allocation of power and money.

The decennial Census provides essential data that will impact us for the next 10 years and beyond. It’s in the best interest of all of us that we make every effort to educate our communities about participating in the Census. It’s important to count every single person, once and only once, and in the right place. We must make sure that every person living in this country, regardless of immigration status, gets counted in the 2020 Census.
There’s a lot at stake. Census figures are used to determine political representation at all levels of government and to allocate federal tax dollars for critical programs such as Medicaid, federal student loans, food stamps (SNAP), Medicare part B, Head Start, highway construction and school lunches, among many others. In summary, the Census is about power and money. Read this article to understand why there’s so much at stake with the Census.