Today, April 1, is Census Day. No, it doesn’t mean that your Census information is due. It just means that the information you file to the Census should reflect the address where you live as of Apr. 1. The Census collects this information in order to apportion things like grants for school lunches, housing assistance, and medical coverage.
There is no citizenship question in the Census. In fact, all the information you provide to the Census is completely confidential. There are even strict penalties for anyone who shares that information with anyone other than the Census.
The goal for every community is to get the most accurate count for the Census. This means that every person living in the community is counted, based on where they live. This can signify to the Federal Government that there are enough people for the grants mentioned.
In Detroit and some its surrounding communities, an accurate count has been a difficult goal. A lot of people in the Metro area have either been hard to count, or unavailable for providing this information.
This year’s Census is set to be an especially difficult one for getting an accurate count. Many of the workers who will usually go to households won’t be able to work in the same way they used to because of the Coronavirus Outbreak in Southeast Michigan.
Dr. Hayg Oshagan has been working to spread the message of the Census since before Michigan was on lockdown. Before working on strategic communication from home, he would travel among the Southeast Michigan communities in order to work with local teams on Census Initiatives.
“You know, obviously the corona virus is critically important,” Dr. Oshagan said. “And everyone needs to be careful and stay safe. But the census is critically important too. It’s a way for our communities, to stay safe, to be educated, and to have the resources that they need for the next 10 years.
“So people should remember to do the census. I know there are a lot of distractions and it’s a difficult time for a lot of people. But the census only takes 10 minutes to do. And in the long term, it affects us a great deal.”
In order to do the Census, most people should’ve received a message in the mail with a unique code for their home address. From there, you can go to 2020census.gov and input the unique code for your address.
The Census will ask nine questions:
- How many people are living in your home as of Apr. 1, 2020?
- Whether there are any additional people staying in your home for longer than two weeks as of Apr. 1, 2020.
- Do you own the home you’re staying in?
- What is your telephone number?
- What is the name of each person living in your home?
- What is the Gender of each person living in your home?
- What is the age and date of birth of each person living in your home?
- Whether anyone living in your home is of Hispanic or Latin American origin.
- What is the race of each person living in your home?
Stay safe, stay healthy, and don’t forget to fill out the 2020 Census.
