Editor’s Note: This story was originally posted on Feb. 28, but has been updated to include the new promotional video.
As census season begins in Flossmoor, volunteers are spreading the word this weekend so that every village resident is counted this year. Members of Flossmoor’s Community Relations Commission will be hanging reminders on doors alerting residents about the importance of the Census and its funding for important village services.
Editor’s Note: This story was originally posted on Feb. 28, but has been updated to include the new promotional video.
As census season begins in Flossmoor, volunteers are spreading the word this weekend so that every village resident is counted this year.
Members of Flossmoor’s Community Relations Commission will be hanging reminders on doors alerting residents about the importance of the Census and its funding for important village services.
Assistant Village Manager Allison Matson said volunteers met this week to plan a strategy for the door hanging mission.
The first priority, Matson said, is contacting residents considered “harder to reach” by the U.S. Census Bureau. These include renters, immigrants or people living in multi-unit buildings.
Matson said several National Honor Society students from Homewood-Flossmoor High School will also be going door-to-door on their day off Monday, which is Casimir Pulaski Day.
The federal government conducts a national census every 10 years to get an accurate population count and the resulting numbers are a crucial factor in congressional redistricting and government funding.
“State funding is conducted on a per capita basis,” said Flossmoor Village Manager Bridget Wachtel. “Population matters.”
Flossmoor receives nearly $1 million each year from the State of Illinois, village officials say. That means the village loses $1,100 in state funding for each resident who is uncounted in the census. State funds are an important revenue source in Flossmoor and are used to pay for village services like police, fire and public works.
Flossmoor’s outreach comes two weeks before the Census Bureau begins contacting the nation’s population with an invitation to participate in this year’s count.
Matson said residents will get the invitation between March 12 and 20. They’ll be asked to go online or call a toll-free number to respond to the census. If persons don’t respond online or by phone, the Census Bureau will send them two reminder letters before mailing a paper questionnaire. If persons do not respond by April 20, a census worker will visit their home.
This is the first year that Americans will be able to respond to census questions online, Matson said.
Village officials said persons who don’t have home computers but who wish to respond online can visit the Flossmoor Public Library to use that facility’s free computers.
Flossmoor is releasing a video on the importance of the census in the next few weeks. It was created by Phil Lee, a Flossmoor resident and owner of a marketing company. In 2018, Lee produced a three-minute video promoting the village’s inclusiveness that was extremely well received.