Spread the word: On Wednesday, April 1, 2020, everyone will be able to fill out the Census 2020 form.

It’s a small act with huge consequences. Every 10 years, the Census Bureau attempts to count everyone living in the United States.

And every 10 years, many people go uncounted, which can mean losing representation in Congress and losing crucial federal funding. In addition, state programs won’t have a clear count of their populations. Nor will researchers. And businesses won’t have a clear picture of the marketplace.

One commonly undercounted groups?

Children.

In 2010 in Massachusetts, for example, the Census failed to count an estimated 20,000 young children ages 0 to 4.

What does this mean for our state?

The nonprofit think tank MassBudget sums it up with two slides. The first lists reasons and situations when children aren’t counted.

Source: MassBudget

The second slide summarizes the federal funding impact.

Source: MassBudget

What will ensure that more children are counted?

Advocacy.

As we’ve blogged, “Early educators are uniquely suited to reach out to families of young children and encourage them to participate in the Census. And there are lots of tools to use to do this work.”

First it’s important to know that there are three ways to respond to the Census: online, by phone, or by mail.

In addition, the Census Bureau has a two page brief on counting young children. There’s also a video that explains how to fill out the online form.

Libraries are playing a huge role in Census 2020 by providing access to computers that people can use to fill out their Census forms. More information is available on the website of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Be sure to click on each of the blue tabs to access all the information.

Advocates for Children of New Jersey has a rich collection of Census material, including information, a toolkit, an outreach kit, and a link to the Census 2020 jobs website for anyone who wants to apply to be a Census Taker.

Massachusetts’ Secretary of State William Galvin has a Census 2020 website with posters and brochures in different languages.

Boston has a Census 2020 website.

And MassBudget has a 2018 report the explains the importance of the Census count. For additional information on this analysis, reach out to Nancy Wagman, MassBudget’s Kids Count Director at NWagman@massbudget.org.

MassBudget also has three messages that advocates can use.

Source: MassBudget

So please join us in working to ensure that young children and their families are all counted. Because as the boy in the video below explains:

“Guys, figuring out who counts in the 2020 Census isn’t complicated.”

But it is important.