If you haven’t yet completed the 2020 U.S. Census, you still have time to do so. July 31 is the deadline for filling out your census form online or by phone.
The census not only determines our congressional representation, but the level of federal funding that will go to essential public services over the next 10 years.
The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of federal funding to CSEA members. The services we provide are largely funded by federal dollars passed down to our state and local governments, and that funding is directly tied to the census.
In the last census, it was estimated that 31 percent of our population failed to respond to the census. That cost New York $120 billion in federal funding, an incredible amount that could have helped support our jobs and the services we provide.
This time, we must ensure that New York gets its fair share.
As this edition was going to press, New York was lagging behind the national average in its response rate, most recently ranking 38th among state response percentages. The state self-response rate was 55.1 percent.
Even within the state, the response rate varied greatly, with Nassau County ranking 66.3 percent, closely followed by Niagara County at 66.1 percent. The lowest rate of response in New York was in Hamilton County, ranking 6.9 percent.
To follow a link to complete the census online and enter our census iPad contest, visit https://cseany.org/census.
