Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz was in Danbury yesterday to kick off 2020 Census efforts in the City.  Postcards will be sent out March 12th inviting every household to fill out the census online.  This is the first year the census will be conducted, in part, online.  Anyone who doesn't do that by the end of March, will be sent traditional printed forms in April.  If that's not filled out and sent in by the end of April, enumerators will be going door to door. 

The Census Bureau is hiring 21,000 people in Connecticut for the part time work, which pays $25 an hour in the Danbury area.  Applicants will need to complete paperwork online and make an appointment to get fingerprinted for the background check.  She added that trusted community members who speak different language are encouraged to apply.

Census data is protected information only used for statistical purposes and may not be used by the federal agencies or any other organizations.

Bysiewicz says Danbury is a hard-to-count area, which means there are many multi-family housing units and a transitory population moving in and out of apartments.  She notes that an accurate census count is critically important to the state as it is the foundation to determine federal funding allocations for schools, hospitals, non-profits, and other public and private entities.

Currently, Connecticut is ranked 48th in the nation for paying the most in federal income taxes and is among the lowest in getting federal dollars in return. She says it's important that Connecticut state government take an active role in facilitating counting efforts to ensure an accurate return for school lunch programs, community development block grants, SNAP, transportation grants and more.