The self-response rate for the U.S. Census in Berrien County is currently at 48%. That’s according to Berrien Census Hub Coordinator Kathy Stady, who heads up the Berrien Community Foundation’s census promotion effort. She tells WSJM News you’ve got until May 28 to fill out the census on your own.
“Anyone who hasn’t completed it by May 28, the Census Bureau will send staff workers out door to door,” Stady said. “So if you get it out by then, you won’t have a census worker knocking on your door.”
In 2010, the self-response rate in Berrien County was 65%. Of course, we still have time to increase our 48% before May 28. Stady says the census determines federal funding for a variety of local programs.
“It funds everything from roads and bridges to housing. It funds Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP, WIC. It is everywhere in our county.”
Stady says the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the response rate as events that had been planned to promote the census have been cancelled and libraries are closed. She notes many residents who don’t have internet access are affected that way.
