Hello Council Colleagues and ANC Commissioners:
I want to address the confusion surrounding the end date of the 2020 Census. As of today, the census field operations are still active, this includes door to door enumeration and self-response. There are have been several legal challenges to the US Census proposal to end the field operations on October 5th. As of today, the 2020 Census will conclude on OCTOBER 31st, unless additional appeals are filed by the US Government. The court also prohibited the US Census from transmitting apportionment data to the President on the statutory deadline of Dec 31st. As I get more details or if there are changes to the Oct 31st deadline, I will share those.
Our current self-response rate is 63.3%, putting us 3.3% behind the national rate. Our DC self-response rate continues to increase every day and we have closed the gap with the national rate to our smallest difference in 3 months. The enumerators (the door to door census takers) have counted an additional 35% of households, bringing our TOTAL count to 98.3%. While this seems like a very high number, it can be misleading. Our state data center estimates that is equivalent to approximately 15,000 residents who still have not been counted. In dollars, that is potentially $1.3 BILLION dollars in lost federal funding for DC over the next ten years.
Please share the attached graphic and text on your social media or other online networks, blogs etc today and through the weekend to remind everyone what is at stake:
15,000 DC residents still have not been counted in the #2020Census. That equals $1.3 billion in funding for schools, housing, health care, and other programs that help us thrive. Complete the census today online at 2020census.gov or by phone 844-330-2020. #GetCountedDC [undercount graphic attached]
Also attached is the updated two- page engagement tool kit with additional messages, graphics and activities. The DC Census team, along with our agency and community partners, will continue to engage across the city to promote the census until the very last day. I hope you all will continue to promote the census through October 31st.
Melissa Bird, AICP
DC Census 2020, Executive Director
202 230-0489
