ATL Counts Census 2020 Launches Monday, National Census Day

ATLANTA -- The city is launching a census campaign on Monday, to coincide with National Census Day. According to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' office, ATL Counts Census 2020 campaign is a community effort to reach, teach and count every person in the City of Atlanta. A community rally will be hosted to engage and educate residents about the census and garner community support to ensure everyone is counted.

U.S. Rep. John Lewis will serve as the Co-Chair of ATL Counts and will lead a group of corporate and civic partners who have been identified to serve on the Atlanta Complete Count Committee.

ATL Counts is a year-long effort that will educate and mobilize Atlanta residents for the upcoming 2020 census. An accurate count, according to the mayor's office, is critical to ensure Atlanta receives its fair share of public resources to support everything from Head Start to public transportation.

The event will be held from 11am to 2 pm at Atlanta City Hall.

Every 10 years, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts a census to count the number of people living in the United States. The decennial census is conducted on Census Day, which is April 1 in years ending in zero. The next Census Day is April 1, 2020.

The data collected by the decennial census are used to determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. The first U.S. census was in 1790 during the first term of our first president, George Washington. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson led the effort. The population counted was 3,929,625. Congress used these results to apportion 105 seats among 15 states.