Calaveras County is participating in California’s Complete Count Census 2020 effort that is a statewide outreach and awareness campaign designed to ensure an accurate and complete count of all Californians in the upcoming 2020 United States Census. The 2020 Census will be on April 1, 2020 and will be the first to rely heavily on online responses and discouraging the use of “paper” mail-in surveys. This will pose a separate set of challenges especially in rural communities that may not have access to the internet.
Census results are used to allocate Congressional seats, electoral votes, and government program funding to state and local governments. Just based on the funding component, a census that undercounts Californians could cost the state billions of dollars. For every person missed during the Census 2020 count, California is expected to lose approximately $1,950 per person, per year, for 10 years, in federal program funding – that’s almost $20,000 per person until the next census in 2030!
The goal is to ensure that Calaveras County gets its fair share of federal resources and Congressional representation by encouraging the full participation in Census 2020. The county’s outreach campaign will focus on both the geographic areas and demographic populations who are “least likely to respond” also identified as “hard-to-count” communities. Additionally, the county will publicize locations where the public may receive information regarding the census in their native language and assistance completing the census questionnaire online.
Please keep checking back to see Calaveras County’s Census 2020 updates and additional information.