Sept. 30 is the New Deadline for Responses
Have you completed your census questionnaire? If not, now is the time to do so.
The deadline to complete the questionnaire is Wednesday, Sept. 30, after the U.S. Census Bureau recently moved up the date by more than a month.
You can complete the questionnaire at my2020census.gov in 10 minutes or less. Customize the online questionnaire in one of more than 50 languages or respond by phone at 844-330-2020.
The census will not ask you about citizenship status. Responses are safe, secure, and protected by federal law. They can only be used to produce statistics and cannot be used against you by any government agency or court in any way — not by the FBI, CIA, DHS or ICE.
Census takers are now visiting homes that have not yet responded, to help households complete the questionnaire. If you respond online or by phone, a census taker will not need to visit you at home.
Completing the census will help inform how more than $675 billion in federal funding is distributed each year for things like housing assistance, jobs, hospitals, schools and public transportation. It is estimated that each person not counted by the census costs the state of Maryland about $18,250 over a 10-year period, for a total of $26.6 billion statewide. Census data is also used to define representative boundaries for congressional districts, state legislative districts and voting precincts, and for enforcing voting rights and civil rights legislation.
The Census Bureau is still hiring part-time census takers to knock on doors of households that have not yet responded. Visit 2020census.gov/en/jobs.html.
Montgomery County is seeking volunteers to visit food distribution and other community events to encourage census participation. This volunteer opportunity to serve as a Census Ambassador is open to all, but multilingual volunteers, particularly Spanish speakers, are particularly needed. Visit montgomerycountymd.galaxydigital.com/need and search for “census.”
Learn more about the importance of the census to Rockville at www.rockvillemd.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2009 and www.rockvillemd.gov/RockvilleCounts.