Friday, January 17, 2020


Stand Up and Be Counted
2020! A new decade, time for a fresh start and time to be counted in the upcoming census. The census is taken in the United States every 10 years since 1790. The 1790 census was conducted by marshals of the U.S. judicial districts and was taken in the 13 original states, the districts of Kentucky, Vermont, Maine and the Southwest Territory with a reported number of 3.9 million inhabitants. We have come a long way since that first census; the 2010 census reported 308.7 million inhabitants in the United States.
Census day is April 1, 2020, that means census responses should be based on your household residents of that date. The Census Bureau will mail out invitations March 12-20 to respond. You can respond by mail, by phone or online. If you do not respond then reminder letters, postcards and a paper form will be sent out. If you fail to respond to those, a census worker may come to your home to get your information. Census workers will never ask you for your Social Security number or information about your bank accounts or credit cards. If you get calls asking those questions, please hang up immediately. Never give out private information to strangers over the phone. If a census worker comes to your home they will not ask to go inside, they will also have a valid ID Badge with their picture, a U.S. Department of Commerce watermark and an expiration date. If you are unsure or concerned you may call 800-392-8282 to speak with a local Census Bureau representative.
The Census information is safe, secure and protected. The answers you provide are used only to produce statistics. You are kept anonymous: The Census Bureau is not permitted to publicly release your responses in any way that could identify you or anyone else in your home.
So please respond to the census when you receive the notice, tell your friends and family how important this is and encourage them to respond.
~ Submitted by Liz Yokley, BSW at Aging Matters