One of the primary challenges of the decennial U.S. Census is reaching and counting historically underrepresented communities, including many racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, renters, and people living in poverty. Adding the challenge of the global pandemic has made the 2020 Census an incredibly difficult one for fair and accurate representation.

Census data determines not only Congressional district apportionment, but distribution of over $675 billion a year to states and communities for schools, hospitals, roads, Medicaid, welfare, school lunches, food stamps, college grant money for low-income students and dozens of other programs for those in need. The groups that have historically been undercounted are also high needs groups for human services, so undercounting them is very detrimental to Washington's share of federal funding.

The Census delayed field outreach from March to June due to the pandemic, so extending the fall deadline to October 31st is critical for gathering comparable responses to prior years.

Please ensure the Census Bureau is allowed to continue to reach-out to non-respondents through the end of October.

Thank you for all you do for our community!