March 13, 2020

Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers Count

But, young children under 5 years old are the age group most likely to be missed by the census.

Making sure every young child counts in the census is one of the most important things we can do right now for our young children and their families in Boulder County. And right now, it is even more important to support family’s efforts to fill out the Census online or by phone rather than have Census workers go to residences. Please print this poster and put where families can see.

When babies aren’t counted in the census, it hurts our communities and reduces funding for important programs that help our young children and their families. Colorado’s 2020 Census data will be used to allocate billions of dollars in federal funding for programs like child care assistance, Head Start, foster care and WIC. In one year alone, Colorado received $2 billion in federal funding for children’s programs based on our census population counts. If young children aren’t counted in 2020, our communities won’t receive their fair share of this funding for the next decade.

Families can respond to the 2020 Census right now. You can help by sharing the following:

• See https://youtu.be/bcE5wXH17Os to see how easy filling out the Census online is.
• To respond online, visit: https://2020census.gov/
• To complete the census by phone in English dial: 844-330-2020
• Or Spanish dial: 844-468-2020
• Or 11 other languages: https://2020census.gov/en/ways-to-respond/responding-by-phone.html

As of this writing and according to the real time response rate map, Boulder County has a 29% self-response rate and the US and the state of Colorado have a response rates of 24%.

Let’s keep going!  The 2020 Census is now!

Rick Winter
ECCBC Systems Program Associate