Gov. Asa Hutchinson reminded individuals in Arkansas to fill out the 2020 Census by October 31, 2020 at his daily press conference today (July 24).
“Despite the pandemic, a lot of responsibilities go on and the constitutional responsibility in our country is every 10 years to take the census,” he said. “The constitution says that we are to count the persons in our nation and in Arkansas that makes a big difference…”
Fort Smith Mayor George McGill serves as the state chairman for the Arkansas Counts Committee and joined the governor to encourage each person in Arkansas to participate. Furthermore, the director of Arkansas Counts Kara Wilkins and census partnership specialist Danny Burl were also present.
“Arkansas Counts is a statewide coalition of over 40 partners committed to ensuring an accurate and representative count with a targeted focus on hard-to-count populations including people of color, low-income communities, rural communities, immigrant communities and children under 5,” said Wilkins. “Every year, roughly $7.5 billion in federal resources are distributed in Arkansas counties based on census data.”
The current census response rate in Arkansas is 56.8 percent while the national response rate is 62.2 percent.
“In about five minutes, you’ll not only complete your census questionnaire but you will do your part to ensure that billions of dollars in federal funding will be allocated to communities across the state for the next 10 years,” Burl said. “Thirteen language options are supported to help you through the nine-question survey.”
Complete the census online at My2020Census.com, by phone at 844-330-2020 or by mail.
Trained census takers with proper identification and personal protection will visit the homes of individuals who do not respond before the end of October.
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