The Census 2020 has ended but its impact will last over the next 10 years. A census counts every individual living in the United States. Every individual includes babies and children, and those who are citizens, residents, and undocumented immigrants. The data collected by the Census is then used for a variety of important purposes, including:

• To determine how many representatives each state gets in Congress.
• To plan for new roads, schools and health clinics.
• To secure funding for hospitals, fire departments, and other emergency services.
• To determine how billions of dollars in federal funding gets distributed to states, communities, federal programs, and individual households and organizations.  

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many changes to our everyday lives, but participating in the census was more important than ever to many organizations, including school districts like U-46. U-46 receives more than $38 million in federal funds annually to pay for school lunch and breakfast programs, to support students in need of special services, to provide preschool, and to support educators. The amount of money the District receives is related to the results of the census.

Thank you to all who completed their Census 2020 and to our partners for their work in ensuring a complete and accurate count. The following shows the participation rate for the 11 communities we serve.

Source: US Census Bureau Self-Response Rate by Census Tract