Census 2020: Get Counted Today
Dear Friend,
This week, I want to remind you how important it is to fill out the 2020 Census Bureau questionnaire. Our community relies on an accurate count of its population for the correct allocation of hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding, including education spending, health care needs, transportation and infrastructure projects, Medicaid, mental health services, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the discretionary federal spending on a variety of programs you rely on every day. The once-a-decade count also determines the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and is used to draw Congressional and state legislative districts.
Here's the bad news: The Trump Administration earlier this week decided to shorten the time for people to fill out their U.S. Census questionnaires, setting the deadline at the end of September, rather than the end of October, as previously scheduled. The usual every-ten-year practice of sending Census takers to knock on the doors of those who have not responded will be reduced. We may speculate on why they did this, but one thing is clear: If you are going to step up and be counted, the time is growing short.
Places like Memphis (and Tennessee more generally) are typically undercounted, which hurts residents who could make a difference. In 2010, about 67.1 percent of Tennesseans filled out the Census form. According to the Census Bureau's estimates from earlier this week, 62.4 percent of Tennesseans had answered the questionnaire so far. Unfortunately, just 59.1 percent of Shelby County's estimated population had filled out the form and just 53.6 percent of the estimated population of the 9th Congressional District had done so. We have to do better. Our community deserves better.
The process is simple. You should have received information in the mail about filling out the online form using a personal identifying number corresponding to your address. If you didn't respond, by now you should have received a paper form in the mail. If you haven't had contact from the U.S. Census Bureau, please consider filling it out at 2020Census.gov. Whatever your immigration or legal status, please get yourself counted. My District Office staffers, working remotely, will quickly respond to messages left at (901) 544-4131 and provide guidance. You can also visit my website for more information, Cohen.house.gov.
The important thing is that you take this once-a-decade opportunity to help your community receive all the resources it deserves. It's simple and only takes a few minutes to fill out the online form. Together, with this small act, we will strengthen our community.
As always, I remain.
Most sincerely,
Steve Cohen
Member of Congress