With the 2020 Census just two years away, local communities need to prepare. An accurate count is important for congressional redistricting and to ensure that communities get their fair share of the more than $675 billion per year in federal funds spent on schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs. What resources are available to local communities that want to help ensure an accurate census? In this webinar, Brian Timko described the Census Bureau’s Local Update of Census Addresses Operation (LUCA) and how participating governments are helping to improve the census count. Kevin Hawley provided an overview and demonstration of the Census Bureau’s new Response Outreach Area Mapper (ROAM) tool, which can be used to identify hard-to-survey areas. And Jason Jurjevich provided a data user perspective on resources and tools and a new website (https://census2020now.org) that local stakeholders can use to improve the census count in their communities. Their presentations was followed by 10 minutes of Q&A.

Brian Timko is the 2020 Census Coordinator in the Geography Division at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Kevin Hawley is Chief of the Cartographic Products and Services Branch in the Geography Division at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Jason Jurjevich is an Assistant Professor in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, Assistant Director of the Population Research Center, and Director of the Graduate Certificate in Applied Social Demography at Portland State University.

A recording of the webinar is available here.