Board encourages Placer County’s participation in the 2020 Census

Published on February 25, 2020

The Placer County Board of Supervisors today passed a resolution voicing support for the 2020 Census, urging residents to participate and be counted this spring.

The census is critical because a headcount of every person living in the country helps ensure that government resources are allocated fairly. The census will determine how $675 billion in federal resources are distributed annually for the next decade, including millions of dollars in Placer County. Census data is also used to make sure everyone is equally represented in our political system.

Census data affects how much funding Placer County receives for schools, child care programs, road maintenance projects, public safety, emergency preparedness and more. According to the George Washington University Institute of Public Policy, for every person missed during the census, communities in Placer County stand to lose $10,000 per person over 10 years in federal funding.

The 2020 Census will be available in mid-March and will be the first to rely heavily on online responses, which presents opportunities and challenges, especially for rural communities that lack access to broadband.

To raise awareness and encourage participation, especially in hard-to-count communities, county staff are currently participating in Placer Counts, a countywide coalition of community organizations, local governments and other interested parties working to encourage a complete census.

Placer Counts is supporting direct outreach efforts like phone banking and canvassing; questionnaire assistance centers where people can go to complete the census online if they lack internet access at home; and more – with a particular focus on areas of the county more likely to go uncounted.

To get involved and help promote the 2020 Census, visit www.placercounts.org.