Census 2020: Quick & Easy - Your Participation Impacts Renton

"Renton Counts" is a City of Renton effort to foster the benefits of completing Census 2020, which starts March 12. 10 easy questions. 10 min. to do. 10 year community impact. The Census is taken every ten years in the US. New for 2020--you'll be able to complete it online...Easy. Peasy.

The census is important to you and our community for many reasons, including funding for:

• School Lunch programs

• Medicare
• SNAP/WIC
• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• Head Start
• Renton School District and more vital programs

Renton was undercounted in the 2010 census. Some neighborhoods --West Hill, Highlands, Valley, City Center and Benson--up to 40% of residents were not counted. Each person recorded results in $2300 funding per year ($23,000 over ten year period) for Renton. Consequently Renton Counts is working to make sure every Renton resident is counted and understands the tremendous impact their census participation makes--and that it takes less than 10 minutes to answer 10 easy questions!

Census 101 and Why it matters

• Everyone counts - your participation yields benefits for you and everyone locally.
• It’s about $675 billion yearly - Renton deserves its fair share of federal dollars.
• It’s about fair representation...Washington gained 1 US representative from 2010 Census.
• It’s about redistricting...state officials use census data to redraw congressional and state legislative districts accounting for population shifts.
• It’s in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 2)...we do it every ten years in the US.
• Taking part is your civic duty & privilege...it’s the law, but more importantly you get to shape your community. Democracy in action!

• New for Census 2020...Online Option makes it simple and quick.
• Bottomline: Quick. Easy. You make a tremendous impact!

Important Dates to Know
March 12-20--You’ll receive in your home mailbox an invitation to respond online to Census 2020
March 16-24--You’ll receive a reminder letter

If you haven’t responded:

March 26-April 3 -- A reminder postcard
April 8-16 -- A reminder letter and a paper questionnaire
April 20-27-- A final reminder postcard before the US Census Bureau follows up in person.

Three Easy Ways to Respond
Census 2020 will be easier to respond than ever! You can respond online, call toll-free number or by paper. Census Bureau workers will begin following up at homes of those who haven’t completed their census beginning in May. (By the way, US Census workers will be neighbors hired temporarily from our area, so they are nice people.)

You can choose the language (13 choices) for the online response, English and Spanish for the paper version and receive help in 13 languages and TDD.

Privacy
Your responses to Census 2020 are safe, secure and protected by federal law. Your answers can only be used to produce statistics--they can not be used against you in any way.
By law all responses to the US Census Bureau household and business surveys are kept completely confidential. Information can not be shared with immigration enforcement agencies.

Making Sure Everyone Counts
Renton Counts especially targets historically undercounted people, including foreign-born/Immigrants, children younger than 5, seniors, people experiencing homelessness, renters, low-income people and persons of color.

Renton Counts goal is to meet with people in these undercounted communities to share what Census 2020 is about, its privacy and its benefits. Groups can request a speaker or representative to discuss Census 2020 by contacting Ginna Hernandez, Census Program Manager, City of Renton at ghernandez@rentonwa.gov

Respond to the 2020 Census to Shape the Future

Responding to the census helps Renton and other communities get funding they need and helps businesses make data-driven decisions to grow the economy. Census data impacts our daily lives, informing important decisions about funding for services and infrastructure in your community, including health care, senior centers, jobs, political representation, roads, schools and businesses.

$675 billion in federal funding flows back to states and local communities each year based on census data. In 2016 Washington state received $16.7 billion in federal funds.

When you think about it, the ten minutes or less to complete your census is a great return on investment of your time. Quick and easy. So much benefits for you, our Renton community and for communities across the nation. As US citizens we’re obligated to complete the census, but as local residents it is a tool to make our community a better place to live.
You Count. Be Counted.