HRCD sets Census event Wednesday

Editor’s note: This version corrects that, at the time the story was written, the 2020 Census deadline was Sept. 31 and adds that, since the story originally was written, a federal judge ordered the Census Bureau to move the deadline back to Oct. 31.

District 4 Human Resources Development Council is hosting a “Last Chance to Make it Count” Census event Wednesday from 4-6 p.m. in its Fireside Room in the HRDC building at 2229 Fifth Ave. 

  With the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, collection of Census 2020 data has been set back.

The data collection time was moved to an Oct. 31, but was later moved back to Sept. 31.

A federal judge Friday ordered the U.S. Census Bureau back to Oct. 31.

Associated Press reports attorneys for the Census Bureau and the Department of Commerce said Friday they would file an appeal and asked the judge to suspend the injunction while that happens.

The HRDC event will give people another chance to be counted in the Census before the upcoming deadline.

HRDC will be providing $25 Town Pump Gas Cards to the first 10 households that complete their census and we will be providing a brown bag dinner for all who attend. 

The Census conducted every 10 years helps determine federal funding to an area as well as set the number of lawmakers a state has in the U.S. House of Representatives.

This Census could determine that Montana would regain a second seat in the House, which is lost after the 1990 Census.

It is estimated that every person counted equates to $2,000 in federal funding each year, and would lose that funding, or $20,000 per person until the next Census, if the state population is undercounted.

People who want to complete the Census at home can still do so by going to http://my2020census.gov or by calling 1-844-330-2020 .