NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, Pa. (WLVT) - 2020 Census Day is not until Apr. 1, 2020, but local leaders are already pushing to make sure everyone fills them out.
“We really need to know how many people are in our counties,” said Dawn Godshall with the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley. “People count on things like Medicaid, Head Start, WIC, SNAP, aid to senior citizens, and to veterans, and if they don’t know that those people exist, they’re not going to fund them, so we lose a lot of money.”
Easton Mayor Sal Panto said funding for the city relies heavily on how many people accurately fill out the census. “Part of our funding that we use goes to social services, said Panto. “For example, Easton Area Community Center just got all brand new windows. They got a $90,000 grant from the city that was directly from the federal government based on our population.”
Godshall said it’s also important to note that questions about citizenship will not be apart of the census. “The questions really deal with occupancy, age, gender, and race,” said Godshall. “We do want - for demographics - to have an idea of who’s there, but it has nothing to do with citizenship.” She said six out of every 10 minority children from ages zero to four were not counted in the 2010 census. “That resulted in about tens of millions of dollars in loss in really important federal funding for those communities,” said Godshall.
A report from George Washington University said about $1.5 trillion was given to state and local governments, nonprofits, businesses, and households for the 2017 fiscal year. Medicare alone accounted for $710 billion, according to the report as well.
The census invitation is usually mailed to people in March and the due date is Apr. 1, 2020. For more information and support, there will be a grand opening ceremony for the Allentown Area Census Office in January.