10 | APRIL 9 • 2020
continued on page 12
B
y now, every American has received an invitation
to respond to the 2020 U.S. Census.
This letter from the U.S. Census Bureau
provides an individual Census ID number for easy
response on the internet, along with a phone number
for assistance, with a requested deadline of April 1, 2020.
Through the next few months, cen-
sus takers will be following up with
households who do not respond or
who require special assistance to do
so.
The 2020 Census data will allo-
cate federal resources (money) and
federal representation (the number
of representatives in the House of
Representatives) according to the
population distribution of respon-
dents. So, there’
s a lot at stake. Every
person needs to be counted.
But there are potential obstacles
for some respondents, including lack
of fluency in English, vision limita-
tions, cognitive impairments and
mental health problems.
The U.S. Census Bureau, local
governments and nonprofit agencies
are engaged in a multimedia cam-
paign to encourage everyone to com-
plete their census forms.
“We want to make sure that
everyone can respond to the 2020
Census,
” said Char Yates, a Census Bureau media spe-
cialist based out of its regional office in Chicago. Yates
added that the bureau provides translated web pages and
guides in 59 non-English languages, as well as in Braille
and large print.
SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Detroit’
s Jews in under-
represented populations
respond to the 2020 Census.
Time to be
Counted
Jews in the D
Why It’
s
Important
Answering nine simple questions
is estimated to take less than 10
minutes, but it can help ensure
that each community receives its
fair share of $675 billion in fed-
eral funds for highways, police
and fire protection, job training,
school lunches, health care and
much more.
Many federal program funds
are allocated based upon pop-
ulation, so the government
needs to know who lives where,
including age, housing type
and other basic demographic
data. Congressional represen-
tation also is determined by the
Census.
Ellen Betel, right, helped her mother,
Lenore Crawford, complete the 2020
U.S. Census form online.
ED BETEL
on the cover