2020 Census Preparation Kicks Off In Connecticut

MANCHESTER, CT — Federal, state and municipal leaders focused on three major points of emphasis on Monday — nearly $11 billion in aid from Washington, full internet capabilites for the first time ever and a potential citizenship question — as Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz kicked off the preparatory stages for the 2020 Census in Connecticut.

Bysiewicz used the Whiton Memorial Library in Manchester as the backdrop for the Census announcement.

The actual counting is a year away, but Connecticut offices are being set up in Hrtford, Danbury and New Haven and Census workers are being hired.

Both Bysiewicz and U.S. Census Bureau officials stressed the need for an accurate count because census data is a major guideline for distributing $10,726,609,427 in funding allocated from 55 large federal spending programs. Benefitting programs can range from food assistance to the Community Development Block Grant to road projects, they said.

"It's important that we count every person," Bysiewicz said.

A defined target in 2020 will be the "hard to count areas," like towns — and sections of towns — with a deep densities of apartments or with rural areas in which homes can be some distances apart. As much as 20 percent of the state can be considered hard to count, officials said.

The census will have full internet capability for the first time ever — something convenient to the majority of homeowners but a challenge for those in hard to count areas. Local libraries have partnered with the census bureau to offer computers for public use, Bysiewicz said.

The aspect of the census with polarizing potential is the inclusion of a citizenship question touted by the Trump administration and currently being studied by the U.S. Supreme Court. Bysiewicz repeatedly said it is a violation of federal law for any agency or the Census Bureau to share information with any law enforcement agency.

"Gov. Lamont and I are being very clear on that," she said.

Census Bureau Officials said all census information is for statistical purposes only.

The bureau is currently hiring office station and "enumeration positions," those who physically work in the communities. The jobs pay $21 per hour, Census Bureau Officials said. Applications are being preocessed through 2020census.gov/jobs and 1-855-562-2020.

Manchester Mayor Jay Moran said those worker are the key to getting the neighborhoods involves in the census.

"Trust is the key," he said.