Sonoma County is encouraging all residents to complete the 2020 Census by the deadline of Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. The census is an integral part of the U.S. Constitution, a process for counting the entire population of the United States and five U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). To do so, each home has received an invitation to respond to a short questionnaire – either via online, by phone, or by mail – by Sept. 30. Federal funds, grants and support to states, counties and communities are based on population totals and breakdowns by sex, age, race and other factors. Your community benefits the most when the census counts everyone. When you respond to the census, you help your community get its fair share of the more than $675 billion per year in federal funds spent on schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs.Local governments use the census for public safety and emergency preparedness. Residents use the census to support community initiatives involving legislation, quality of life and consumer advocacy. Businesses may use census data to decide where to build factories, offices and stores while developers use the census to build new homes and revitalize old neighborhoods.There are three ways to complete the 2020 Census questionnaire:· Online – Go to my2020census.gov for the quick-and-easy online questionnaire that will just take minutes to complete. You can select from 13 languages, including English and Spanish.· Phone – Representatives are available from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern time, seven days a week. For English, call (844) 330-2020; for Spanish, call (844) 468-2020; and for TDD call (844) 467-2020. Check my2020census.gov for other language support.· Mail – Mailings for the 2020 Census were sent out starting in April 2020 to homes that did not respond by phone or online. Completed questionnaires should be sent to: US Census Bureau, National Processing Center, 1201 E 10th Street, Jeffersonville, IN 47132.One person, who must be at least 15 years old, should respond for each household. They should live in the home or place of residence themselves and know general information about each person living there, such as type of home, other persons in the home and their age, date of birth, sex, and race/ethnicity.For residents seeking assistance to complete the questionnaire, Community Action Partnership is setting up a Mobile Questionnaire Assistance location as follows:· Friday, Sept. 18, 2020 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at El Mitote Food Park, 665 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa, CA.All information collected as part of the census is strictly confidential – as defined under Title 13 of the U.S. code – and used only for statistics about our country. The 2020 Census does not ask about citizenship status, and all persons are counted regardless of immigration status. By law, the information is not shared with law enforcement. Your answers do not affect your government benefits. The Census Bureau will never ask you for your Social Security number, money or donations, anything on behalf of a political party, or your bank or credit card account information. Your information is safe and only used for the intended purpose of the Census count.Complete your 2020 Census Questionnaire by the final date of Sept. 30, 2020. To learn more about the 2020 Census visit www.GetCountedSonoma.org or my www.2020census.gov. Your community is counting on you to get counted.
