Kenmore Counts!

Households received notices by mail with instructions on how to complete the 2020 census. The census questionnaire asked nine questions about households, including questions on number of people living there, ages, and other demographic information. Every person living in a household, regardless of age, was included in the count. There were NO questions about citizenship or immigration status, and it is illegal for the Census Bureau or its employees to share information with landlords, law enforcement, other agencies or jurisdictions, or anyone else. The answers provided by households were used only to produce statistics. 

Counting people through the census is how funding is distributed where it’s needed—for things like buses, hospitals, schools, and roads. Census counts also determine how many political representatives communities have for the next decade. Kenmore Councilmember Debra Srebnik recorded the message below for the 2020 census to help people learn more about how the census affects Kenmore:

Households completed the 2020 census questionnaire in one of 3 ways:

Online: www.2020census.gov
Phone: 1-844-330-2020
Mail: If a household didn't respond online or by phone, a paper copy was mailed to household.

Follow-up visits were made by Census workers in order to make sure everyone was represented in the census count.

Online Language Support: To help households answer the census questionnaire, the U.S. Census Bureau provided translated web pages and guides in 59 non-English languages, including American Sign Language, as well as guides in braille and large print.

Phone Language Support: Language support over the phone was provided in 19 languages.

The City of Kenmore's Census 2020 Complete Count Committee, "Kenmore Counts," was active starting the spring of 2019 and worked through spring of 2020. This Complete Count Committee was run by volunteer citizens who were passionate about making sure everyone in the Kenmore community was counted. Thank you to our local Kenmore Counts Committee for working to:

• Increase awareness and motivate all residents to respond to the census
• Leverage local community knowledge and relationships to create strategies and tactics to support the census’ goal of “counting everyone once, only once, and in the right place
• Plan outreach efforts in Kenmore, with specific support for our residents that often are underrepresented in the census, including communities of color, low-income households, immigrants, and young children
• Strengthen or establish new relationships between the City and various agencies, organizations, businesses and community groups throughout Kenmore, helping us become an even more connected, safe, inclusive, and welcoming community

Thank you to Professor Gary Carpenter and the students from the University of Washington Bothell "Creative Activism: Inspiring Social Change Through the Arts" class, who created unique ways to engage with people to raise awareness and participation in the 2020 census. Despite the COVID-19 situation they found ways to promote the census and support our community—kudos to them! Here are samples of the students' work: