Census takers next week will begin visiting households across Colorado, including in Longmont.
The U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday announced that starting July 30, personnel will begin following up with households in select areas in Colorado that have not yet responded to the 2020 Census. Among the areas are Aurora, Denver and northern Colorado, including Longmont, according to a Census Bureau email alert.
Census takers will be required to wear face masks while visiting homes and will follow Centers for Disease Control and local public health guidelines when they visit. Census takers must complete a virtual COVID-19 training on social distancing protocols and other health and safety guidance before beginning work in neighborhoods, according to the Census Bureau.
They will wear valid government ID badges with their photographs, a U.S. Department of Commerce watermark and expiration date. To confirm a census taker’s identity, the public may contact their regional census center to speak with a Census Bureau representative, according to the email alert.
All census takers, who are hired from local communities, speak English, and many are bilingual. If a census taker does not speak the householder’s language, the household can request a return visit from a census taker who does, the Census Bureau stated in the email. Census takers also will have materials on hand to help identify the household’s language.
If no one is home when census takers visits, they will leave notice of their visit with information about how to respond online, by mail or by phone in English or 12 other languages.
The U.S. Constitution mandates a census of the population every 10 years. The 2020 Census will count everyone living in the United States as of April 1. Census statistics are used to determine the number of seats each state holds in the U.S. House of Representatives and to inform funding decisions of state, local and federal lawmakers annually for the next 10 years, according to the Census Bureau email.
Follow-up work is slated to begin Aug. 11 in census offices across the country. The four Colorado area census offices are scheduled to conclude work no later than Oct. 31.
For more information, visit 2020census.gov.
