Dear Council Colleagues and ANC Commissioners
This is our final 2020 Census update. As you are aware, the 2020 Census ended unexpectedly early last Thursday. We were really hoping to continue until October 31st. First and foremost, I want to think all you for your community engagement efforts to promote census participation. Without a doubt, this has been one of the most challenging and unique census efforts in history. Through our collective efforts over the last two years, the DC Census team was able to build a committed and diverse coalition of government, non-profits, faith- based and business partners to engage in all eight wards of the city. Over 1,000 Census Ambassadors were trained, 45 partnerships developed, a multimedia campaign launched, a new grant program for 16 community-based organizations and hundreds of public events held—all with the same goal-to count every person and household in the District. In spite of the many challenges from the Trump administration and COVID, our commitment to counting every person has never wavered.
As of 10/15, the DC self-response rate was 63.9%. The national self-response rate was 67%. The TOTAL response rate (self-response plus door-to-door follow up) is 99.9%. DC is ranked 33rd out of 52 states and territories for self-response. The self-response rate may change as the US Census goes through the data and corrects for vacant units, duplicates etc. I will be putting together a final report of our overall engagement efforts over the last 2 years which I will make available once its complete. If you have any pictures of census events or outreach, please email those to me.
As of now, the US Census will deliver the count to the White House by Dec 31st. The final population data will be delivered to states in the Spring. There are several ongoing legal challenges though, so dates and data are subject to change. Working with all of you has truly been a fantastic professional and personal experience. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have additional census questions.
Melissa
Melissa Bird, AICP
DC Census 2020, Executive Director
202 230-0489
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