Census Workers Begin Canvassing Milton; Deadline Pushed Back

MILTON, GA — After one last training session, 2020 Census workers last week began canvassing in Milton with vigor, preparation and urgency tied to a pushed-up final count deadline.

The Census is an invaluable tool written into the U.S. Constitution, helping Americans better understand the state of their nation and its people. And its results can be vital to cities like Milton, with Census participation driving federal funding and other key decisions.

"Residents have just a few weeks left to be counted," said Milton Mayor Joe Lockwood. "It's very important for our city government, our police and firefighters, our local schools and other parts of our community that everyone takes part in the 2020 Census."

For months people have been able to fill out their Census forms via mail or online. Yet every 10 years, there's always a significant portion of almost any population that doesn't respond these ways. That's why going door-to-door has long been part of the U.S. Census strategy, a particularly important tool to connect with those who can't easily be reached by other means or who don't speak English as their native language.

All that remains true this year. Yet, like with so much else in 2020, COVID-19 has complicated the 2020 Census process.

The pandemic not only led officials to cancel events and programs to educate and interact with the public face-to-face, it also precipitated major changes to the traditional Census timeline. Normally, Census "enumerators" would be out in neighborhoods nationwide through late spring and summer. Yet the Census Bureau suspended field operations in mid-March. The federal agency recently has resumed that activity, albeit with a new Sept. 30 deadline - one month earlier than the previously announced end date of Oct. 31.

Locally, some Census workers got a week-long training session from July 31 to Aug. 5 in the City of Milton's Community Place building. They learned the ins-and-outs of collecting people's information, just like they might do for any Census every 10 years. And on top of that, enumerators got extra instructions on how to conduct this year's count safely for all involved, including how best to get answers while wearing facial coverings and maintaining social distancing.

These freshly trained Census employees will not go to every Milton residence. Rather, they'll target only those households who have yet to respond by mail or online. As of Friday afternoon, Milton had a 69.9 percent response rate - about 10 percentage points above the state average but a shade behind several neighboring North Fulton cities.

More than just a head count, the Census helps guide critical decisions by public policymakers and private citizens. Among them, the Census:

• Determines how many representatives each state gets in the U.S. Congress and provides essential data to draw individual districts
• Shapes how $675 billion in federal funds are directed nationwide, with each person locally counted in the U.S. Census equating to about $1,600 for the Milton community
• Provides valuable data that's used to plan out and create new roads, schools and emergency services (including everything from firefighter support to hospital funding)
• Guides some funding and other decisions and allocations at the state and county level
• Gives entrepreneurs information on where they should open a new business

If you haven't participated yet in the 2020 Census, go online. If you have but know people who haven't been counted, encourage them to do so either online or by answering Census enumerators' questions. By law, any Census information collected is completely confidential and cannot be used against anyone in any way.