As of this morning, the 2020 Census is available online at my2020census.gov . For those concerned about how the census will be impacted by COVID-19, the most recent guidance we have been given by the Regional Office is that they are moving ahead as planned. They are/will be working closely with Federal, State, and local health authorities as more information becomes available.


Our partners at the NY Regional Census office have shared the following Questions and Answers for us to share with our networks. This e-newsletter is meant to be shared with your networks, families, and friends to ensure everyone has the right information about what to expect and what to do to complete their questionnaire. Remember, if people do not want enumerators knocking on their doors (which begins in May for most areas) the best way is to complete the form online.

I hope you will join all of our partners, and complete the census questionnaire today.


Question and Answers from the Bureau


1) What does the Invitation to Respond envelope look like?   
See visuals of our Census 2020 mailings here:

2) Can I answer the questionnaire without the code in the Invitation to Respond?  Yes! Visit my2020census.gov to complete the questionnaire with or without a code.

3) Will my geographic area receive the paper form first or only the invitation to respond?
Take a look at the Mail Contact Strategies Viewer -- if your census tracts are in green then your area will receive the invitation to respond and the paper questionnaire in the first mailing. Remember, anyone who does not respond by phone or online will receive a paper questionnaire as part of their 4th mailing.

4) I like the paper questionnaire. Will I need to pay to mail it back? 
No, it has postage on the return envelope and is ready to mail.

5)  What are the Census phone numbers?
The enclosed document provides the phone numbers people who speak different languages can call for assistance on how to complete the questionnaire form.


6) What if more than 10 people are in my household?
It is best to answer online or by phone for a larger household as you may include up to 99 people in your response.

7)  Where can I find language assistance for the census?  
See print guides in 59 languages here.

8)  When will I be able to see how well my community is responding?   As of March 20th you will be able to Census Self-Response Rates here:   https://2020census.gov/en/response-rates.html

9) Will the Census Bureau provide staff at my agency to help my community complete the census?  We are staffing Census Response Representatives (CRR) mostly in areas predicted to have a low response rate from March 12 through March 30th. After March 30th, we will deploy CRRs only in areas of low self-response for Mobile Questionnaire Assistance .


Click on the link for more information about How the 2020 Census will invite everyone to respond