This Is Why It’s So Important to Participate in the 2020 Census in Queens

It’s time for a new census to take place, and now it’s more important than ever in NYC to be counted…especially in Queens.

Conducted every 10 years, the census will determine NYC’s representation in Congress as well as its amount of federal funding for education, housing, public works projects, etc. If under counted we could lose up to two congressional seats in the House of Representatives, and considering past numbers, that wouldn’t be very far-fetched.

During the last census in 2010, the city’s average response rate was 61.9 percent. Queens was the second lowest self-response rate in all of the boroughs, only coming in behind Brooklyn. Only 61.7 percent of residents responded during phase one.

The goal of the census, of course, administered by the U.S. Census Bureau, is to calculate the entire population of the country and where everyone lives. The first phase of the process is the self-response phase, starting March 12, when each home receives a letter with info about how to enter online (it has never been available online before). If they don’t participate, census staff will knock on doors during the follow-up phase, taking place from May 13 through July.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was even recently in Queens encouraging census participation, and stressed its importance.

According to QNS.com, at the East Elmhurst Town Hall earlier this week she said, ““We all know Corona is one of the most crowded school districts in the entire city and state. One of the contributing reasons is because this neighborhood is undercounted.”

The New York branch of the Federal Census Bureau also emphasized that we have one chance every 10 years to get this right…and that each neighborhood will suffer for the next 10 if it is under counted.

So, be sure to look in your mailbox starting March 12, and encourage your friends and neighbors to participate! It will only help our own quality of life.