Making Elmont count in the Census

Posted

Elmont residents learned the importance of participating in the 2020 United States Census at a Census Fair on July 30. It was hosted by Nassau County Comptroller Jack Schnirman and Legislator Carrié Solages to encourage residents to become enumerators.

Enumerators interview families who did not respond to the census via mail. The Census Bureau estimates that nearly 40 percent of the 2020 count will be recorded by enumerators who go door-to-door.

Solages recently told the Herald that he expects fewer people to respond to the census this year due to a growing distrust in the federal government and fears over a potential citizenship question. But, he said, residents would be more likely to respond to the census if their neighbors were the ones interviewing them.

“We want all our community leaders to get involved in the census,” Solages said. “If residents are met with people they know, who also speak their language, then they’re more likely to respond.”

The federal government uses the census to determine how congressional seats are divided and how more than $600 billion in federal and state funds are allocated.