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Less than half of Grady Countians have responded to 2020 Census
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GRADY COUNTY officials are urging local residents, who have not previously done so, to respond to the 2020 United States Census. According to local officials, each person counted equals to $2,300 in funding for the community.
Grady County’s response to the 2020 Census remains low, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with less than 50 percent of local residents submitting their information so far. The U.S. Constitution requires that each decade a count, or a census, is made of America’s population.
Due to COVID-19, though, citizens have more time to submit their responses with the original deadline of July 31 being extended to Oct. 31.
In Grady County, 48.3 percent of the estimated population has submitted their census information, 23.8 percent of those utilized the internet to do so.
Although paper questionnaires were mailed to each household and can be filled out and returned at no charge utilizing the U.S. Postal Service, citizens may also reply online at my2020census.gov, or over the phone at 1-844-330-2020.
The numbers per local city are also low, although Whigham raised its rate by nearly four percentage points in the last few weeks while Cairo’s self-response rate increased by only one percent.
In the City of Cairo, the response rate is 47.9 percent, and in Whigham, the rate is 40.3 percent.
Of the City of Cairo respondents, 20.7 percent have used the internet, and in Whigham, 32.9 percent have used the internet to submit their answers.
The census provides vital information about communities. It determines how many representatives each state gets in Congress and is used to redraw district boundaries. The census statistics help communities plan for a variety of resident needs including new roads, schools and emergency services. Businesses use census data to determine where to open places to shop. Each year, the federal government distributes more than $675 billion to states and communities based on Census Bureau data.
Citizens who do not self-report will be contacted by Census takers who will interview households in person, Aug. 11-Oct. 31.
In addition, census officials work with service providers at soup kitchens and shelters to help count the people they serve. Census workers count homeless people, finding them under bridges, in parks or in all-night businesses, and also count those who live in campgrounds, R.V. parks, marinas or hotels.
Once the Census information has been collected and reviewed by experts, it is delivered to the President, usually by December, but due to the coronavirus, that deadline has been extended to April 30, 2021.
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