The decennial U.S. Census will be available to residents in the coming months, and greater participation will benefit the community in numerous ways.
The main benefits highlighted by the U.S. Census Bureau center around the distribution of federal grants and funds, job creation and emergency services, as well as the allotment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Lindy Patterson, Gilmer School’s director of state and federal programs, spoke about the 2020 census at December’s board of education work session and shared statistics from Gilmer’s participation in both 2000 and 2010 and how far it lags behind the state average of 72 percent.
Only 55 percent of Gilmer’s estimated population participated in the 2000 census, which dropped to 53 percent in 2010. Fannin County saw its participation fall from 55 percent to 47 percent, while Pickens County outpaces both by a wide margin with rates of 66 percent in 2000 up to 79 percent in 2010.
“The county has created a count committee to educate the community on the importance of participating in the census,” Patterson said.
“One of the reasons the census impacts us is because this is how the state determines how many congressional delegates Georgia gets to send to Washington. It also determines how $675 billion dollars of federal money is spent.
“Lastly, it affects local development, and business will look at our population and see if this is an area they want to bring businesses to and develop.”
Questions asked on the 2020 census include:
﹣ The number of people living or staying in a home on April 1, 2020.
﹣ Whether the home is owned with or without a mortgage, rented or occupied without rent.
﹣ A phone number for a person in the home.
﹣ The name, sex, age, date of birth and race of each person in the home.
﹣ Whether each person is of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.
﹣ The relationship of each person to a central person in the home.
From March 12-26, the Census Bureau will mail materials to households with options of how they would like to respond, which include online, by phone or by mail.
The 2020 Census Day is April 1, and from May through July, census workers will visit households that have not responded. The deadline for the Census Bureau to report state populations to the president is Dec. 31.