Updated 3-16-20 9:37 p.m.
Community Census Days Postponed
All Community Census Days have been postponed for 30 days. As soon as a new schedule is approved, we will share it.
CULLMAN, Ala. – The 2020 Census is quickly approaching, and state and local leaders are pulling out all the stops in an effort to make sure all citizens are counted. The once every 10 years count determines both the number of representatives a state receives in the United States House of Representatives and the apportionment of taxes.
Gov. Kay Ivey, in a stop promoting the census in Cullman last fall, said, “Having an accurate and complete census is vitally important because of the correlation between the participation rate and the federal funds we get that go to health care, infrastructure, education and on and on. Folks, if we turn out at the rate we did in 2000, we will lose two congressional seats. If we turn out to the rate we had in 2010, we’ll lose one.”
According to the official website www.census.gov, “Federal funds, grants and support to states, counties and communities are based on population totals and breakdowns by sex, age, race and other factors. Your community benefits the most when the census counts everyone. When you respond to the census, you help your community gets its fair share of the more than $675 billion per year in federal funds spent on schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs.”
According to U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, the state receives $1,600 in federal funds per year for each person counted in the census.
How the 2020 census will work
The 2020 census will officially count all persons living in Alabama April 1, 2020.
When the official count begins, approximately 95% of citizens will receive their invitations to participate in the census in the mail, while around 5% will get their invitations directly from a census worker and fewer than 1% will be counted directly by a census worker. Special provisions have been made in the planning for counting students living in college or university housing and even those who are homeless.
Those who receive invitations will have instructions on how to respond and will be able to respond by mail, by phone or online. In cases when responses are not received from a known address, census workers can go and knock on the door.
Invitations will be mailed out March 12-20, staggered over several days to help prevent rushes of large numbers of people who could overwhelm the website or back up phone lines. In areas where residents are unlikely to respond online, invitation letters will be accompanied by a paper version of the census questionnaire. Reminders will be sent a few days later. For those who do not respond by the first of April, a second reminder will go out, followed by another letter and paper questionnaire. Starting April 20, census workers will begin knocking on the doors of households that still have not responded.
For a sample of the 2020 census questionnaire, visit www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial/2020/technical-documentation/questionnaires-and-instructions/questionnaires/2020-informational-questionnaire.pdf.
Community Census Days
Municipalities across Cullman County are hosting Community Census Days to promote participation from their residents.
Each Community Census Day event will consist of a bookmobile with iPads for attendees to fill out census forms, door prizes for those who have filled out their census questionnaire prior to arrival (must show proof) of those who fill out forms while at a Census Days event (prizes include a 50-inch smart TV, $50 Wal-Mart gift card, passes to the Cullman Wellness & Aquatic Center and Cullman tumblers), bouncy houses, disc golf, corn hole games, children’s activities and food.
Community Census Days, all on Saturdays, are as follows:
- Garden City Park, March 14, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Cullman- Depot Park, March 21, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
- Berlin Community Center, March 28, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Good Hope Municipal Park, April 4, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Baileyton Town Park, April 4, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Vinemont Community Center, April 11, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- West Point Town Hall, April 18, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Cold Springs (location TBD), April 18, 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.
- Holly Pond Guy Hunt Library & Museum, April 25, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Colony Senior Center, May 2, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Fairview Town Park, May 9, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Hanceville Veterans Park, June 6, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
- Dodge City Town Hall, June 13, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
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