New Canaan Prepares For 2020 Census

NEW CANAAN, CT — As the nation gets set for the 2020 census, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and New Canaan officials on Thursday kicked off the town's efforts to count its residents.

New Canaan is one of 169 communities in Connecticut, and Bysiewicz said that so far New Canaan and more than 150 others have formed "complete count committees" that will help raise awareness for the process throughout the spring.

"The census is the foundation for federal spending, and in Connecticut, you could say that there are 11 billion reasons to get it right," Bysiewicz said during the kickoff event in Town Hall.

She was referring to the $11 billion Connecticut stands to receive in funding and grants from 55 federal government programs annually based on the state's population of nearly 3.6 million. If the population is not counted correctly and the number drops, the state could suffer a loss of $2,900 per person.

In fact, Connecticut lost a Congressional representative in the 2000 census, bringing the state's Congressional Delegation down to five representatives from six.

Participating in the census is easy, officials said. Households will begin receiving postcards on March 12 urging them to fill out the form online or by telephone. In April, those households that did not fill out it out online or by phone will receive a printed form in the mail. Those households that do not send those back will receive a visit from a census taker beginning in May.

The count is based on where a person spends most of their time, said Lisa Moore, assistant regional census manger in Connecticut. That means that college students will be counted as part of the school they attend, and people with vacation homes will be counted by their main residence.

Officials also want people to know that census data will not be used to personally track or investigate them.

"We understand that there may be some people who might be nervous giving their personal information to the federal government, but we want them to know that their personal information will be protected and will be safe," Bysiewicz said.

By law, personal information collected during the census cannot be shared with any other government agency or law enforcement entity, she said.

For more information, visit 2020census.gov.