If you haven’t filled out your Census, yet, you could be costing Whatcom millions
Time is running out for Whatcom County residents who have not already responded or spoken to data collectors to be counted as part of the 2020 U.S. Census.
But there’s a bit more time as “Census data collection operations will continue through Oct. 31,” according to a U.S. Census release on Friday, Oct. 2.
Earlier, on Monday, Sept. 28, the Secretary of Commerce announced that the target date to conclude 2020 Census self-response and field data collection operations would be Monday, Oct. 5.
According to data reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, Washington state was one of 13 states where 99.9% of all households had been counted as of Wednesday, Sept. 30. That’s a full percentage point better than the national average of 98.9%.
Washington had the second-highest self-reporting rate at 72.1% responding — behind only Minnesota’s 74.9% — and was well above the national average of 66.6%.
Follow-up interviews by Census takers have helped fill in some of the gaps by those who did not respond, but there are still those that have not been counted — something the Census Bureau hopes to fix this month.
According to a letter sent to The Bellingham Herald by Whatcom Complete Count Committee Co-Chairs Lethal Coe, Mauri Ingram and Summer Starr, every 100 households that are not counted could cost the state $5.8 million of the 10-year census period.
“To give you an idea of what’s at stake, consider that in 2016, Washington received more than $16.5 billion from the federal government. That allocation is based on 2010 figures, and our state has grown by nearly one million people since then, according to estimates from the Washington State Office of Financial Management,” they wrote. “The more accurate and complete the count, the more money.”
Money will be used to meed the area’s school, infrastructure, public safety, emergency preparedness, health and human service needs, according to the Whatcom Complete County Committee. It will also be used to determine political representation and the needs of the most vulnerable in our community.
“That’s why our goal is 100% response, and if any county in this state can do it, it’s Whatcom,” they wrote. “We’ve already beaten the odds by surpassing 2010 rates and need look no further than the pandemic to see how citizens, organizations and businesses here come together to help neighbors prosper.”
If you haven’t already, make sure you’re counted at my2020Census.gov.
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
