Why filling out your Census form is key

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - By now, you’ve heard about completing the 2020 Census but many still haven’t completed the form.

Marilyn Stephens is the assistant regional Census manager for the Atlanta Region.

She said it’s important that you complete the census form for your household and for the state.

‘First of all, we get once a decade to do what I call a community reset,” Stephens said. “The Census is about two things, political power and monetary power. And on the monetary side of it, more than $675 billion in annual resources are allocated. And within those funding formulas, are the thread of the population statistics. And most people don’t realize that many of the programs that all of us depend on, almost on a daily basis."

Said Stephens: “The system is at the base of. For instance, Medicare and those states that have Medicaid programs, rooms, hospitals depend on, on this funding. Community health centers and other health care programs, education programs, such as Early Headstart and Headstart, social programs such as SNAP and WIC and Project Leap. Educators depend on the Title I funds, and the National Student Nutritional program that provides free breakfast and free lunch for children in school. And this time, they were able to provide that food for them, even though the schools had to be closed.”

The Atlanta region serves Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.

The Census Bureau reports Georgia is 4.1 percent below the national average in form returns.

For more information, call (1-844) 330-2020 or click here.

Copyright 2020 WALB. All rights reserved.