Austin, Travis County Launch Census Awareness Campaign

AUSTIN, TX — Top local officials on Monday launched a countywide, 10-day countdown focused on promoting residents' participation in the U.S. census.

Leading the charge are Austin Mayor Steve Adler and State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt. To that end, the Austin-Travis County Complete Count Committee will highlight various themes focusing on the many critical services impacted by an accurate count. Local organizations and residents are urged to spread the word on the countdown, at which time a digital toolkit will be distributed widely.

Download a digital toolkit for the Census Countdown HERE.

Download a flyers to raise awarenes about the 10-day Census Countdown HERE.

“Every Central Texan is directly impacted by funding decisions that are made based on the Census count,” Eckhardt said in a prepared statement. “If any residents are undercounted in 2020, every one of us will be negatively impacted for the next decade and beyond."

Eckhardt and Adler are co-chairs of the Austin-Travis County CCC's campaign, the goal of which is to ensure that every Travis County resident is counted in the 2020 Census. Officials described the 10-Day Countdown as the culmination of months of outreach and organizing on the part of dozens of institutional and grassroots partners.

“Taking 10 minutes to fill out the census ensures we get funding for critical community needs," Adler said in a prepared statement. "It helps determine how much federal dollars we get in the next 10 years for schools, emergency services, road, parks and more. With this pandemic affecting us all, completing this year's Census is extremely important.”

Every decade, the federal government is constitutionally required to count every person — regardless of origin or status — who is living in the U.S. in order to provide an accurate count of all people in the country. The results of the census are far-reaching and impact federal funding for public schools, transportation dollars for roads and buses, reimbursement for healthcare programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, among other services. Census data also guides the configuration of political districts drawn for U.S. Congress, State House seats and school board members.

For more information on the 2020 Census and how to take the questionnaire, residents can visit the ATX Census 2020 page.