The U.S. Census 2020 season officially begins on April 1, but the far-reaching effects of its results are nothing to joke about. Every year, Ohio receives roughly $34 billion in federal funding based on counts and estimations from the previous census in 2010. This money gets integrated into our state budget and goes toward many programs that affect schools, health care, police and fire department services among many other things.

The census also determines some very important, big-picture political items that get established for the 10-year duration until the next census in 2030. As each state’s population is tallied through the census, our number of Congressional districts in Ohio can fluctuate. As of right now, Ohio is projected to lose a Congressional seat due to how our population has changed compared to other states in the last decade. Moreover, the population counts from the census require electoral districts, which include Congressional and General Assembly districts, to have their boundaries redrawn.

The Ohio Development Services Agency has some resources available to larger companies and corporations and small businesses to help you encourage census participation to employees.

You can also find additional materials as part of ODSA’s promotional toolkit available on their official site for U.S. Census 2020.

As you can see, there’s a lot at stake with this year’s census, so it is so important to make sure you participate and help encourage others to participate. Starting in April, every household should be receiving the official census survey in the mail, as well as see census workers knock on your door.