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Covington ‘Census party’ Saturday at City Heights; volunteers to help residents fill out confidential form


The latest stop in the Covington Census Committee’s tour?

The City Heights housing complex.

On a mission to make sure every Covington resident is counted in the 2020 Census, the committee will hold a Census party Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. at the complex at the end of Benton Road.

Tables will be staffed by volunteers ready to help residents fill out the confidential Census application online, with snacks, swag bags, and candy and coloring books for children.

Partners include the Housing Authority of Covington and the Covington Fire Department, which will bring a truck, said Vice Mayor Michelle Williams, who is leading the City’s Census effort.

Williams noted that the event is one of several events the Covington Census Committee has scheduled to improve participation, especially among traditionally difficult-to-count populations, in the Census, which happens on a national level every 10 years.

“We’re out to make sure every single person who lives in Covington is counted, and it’s critical that we succeed,” Williams said. “One of the ironies of the Census is that many of the most challenging populations to count are also those who benefit most from the millions of dollars in federal grants that are allocated to Covington based on its population.”

In fact, some 13 percent of Covington’s budget comes from direct federal funding that’s allocated based on population counts. That is spent on things like emergency home repairs, down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, first-year rent help for small businesses, park renovation, road repair, and neighborhood-specific police patrols.

Census forms can be filled out via paper, phone (1-844-330-2020), and online at 2020census.gov. Two options are presented: for people who have a geographic-specific access code and those who don’t.

The form only takes a few minutes to fill out, and all answers are confidential.


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