City Announces 7-Day Countdown For 2020 Census To ‘Be Counted West Hollywood’

Press release from the City of West Hollywood:

September 23, 2020

The City of West Hollywood is announcing its urgent call — a seven-day countdown — for residents to take action to “Be Counted West Hollywood” in the 2020 Census.

It is not too late and the 2020 Census is vitally important. Community members who have not yet completed the Census can quickly and easily take the census in just five minutes at https://census.ca.gov. Census responses are safe and secure. Information collected in the 2020 Census cannot be shared with or by other governmental agencies.

The United States Census Bureau has announced that Census counting will cease on September 30, 2020. The California 2020 Census has added a “Get Out The Count” countdown timer to its website, which is counting down each second in order to emphasize the urgency with which Census organizers are working to ensure a complete count.

At last tabulation, the 2020 Census response rate for households in California was approximately 68.7 percent and the response rate for households in the City of West Hollywood was approximately 63.7 percent.

The 2020 Census will decide how billions of federal dollars are distributed throughout the nation during the next decade. If response rates do not improve, the resulting undercount may negatively impact funding for schools, health services, childcare, emergency services, and many other programs in West Hollywood and across California. Response rates from the 2020 Census will also affect federal representation until 2030. The apportionment of California’s members of Congress and number of votes in the Electoral College may be negatively impacted by an undercount.

The 2020 Census is available in 13 languages and there are options for people who are Deaf and hard of hearing. Visit the California 2020 Census website to learn more. Census staffers are working in the field and are currently knocking on doors in the City of West Hollywood to follow up with households that have not yet responded to the Census. To learn more about how to identify a Census worker, click here.

To take the 2020 Census immediately, please visit https://census.ca.gov. For additional information about the City of West Hollywood’s efforts to achieve a complete count, please visit www.weho.org/census2020.

For more information about the City of West Hollywood’s Census 2020 efforts, please contact Hernan Molina, the City of West Hollywood’s Governmental Affairs Liaison, at (323) 848-6364 of hmolina@weho.org.

For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or slunn@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496. For up-to-date news and events, follow the City of West Hollywood on social media @WeHoCity and sign up for news updates at www.weho.org/email.

This press release was produced by the City of West Hollywood. The views expressed here are the author’s own.