In Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration has set up an advisory committee to ensure that every state resident is counted in the 2020 U.S. Census.
Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz announced the 50-member statewide committee on Monday.
She said getting an accurate census will help get more federal money for the state.
“Today Connecticut is ranked 48th in terms of the amount of federal funding that we receive. In other words, we give more than almost every other state than we get back. And that’s another reason why this is so important.”
Bysiewicz said part of the mandate of the committee is to help census officials get to the 22 percent of Connecticut residents who live in hard-to-count urban and rural areas.
“Those are where the mail return rate is high, and that is why we have recruited this wide array of people who are trusted partners in their communities to come forward and help us.”
Ian Hull, deputy head of the New York Region of the U.S. Census Bureau, which covers New England, New York, New Jersey and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, said he’s hoping the Connecticut committee will encourage local residents to apply to work on the census.
“To be effective and efficient, we need members of the community to work in their own neighborhoods.”
Hull said the jobs will be short-term positions paying $21-$25 an hour. He said the Census Bureau will soon be opening offices in Danbury, New Haven and Hartford.
