Dear Neighbor:

As we continue to take the necessary measures to socially distance, I'm urging you to come together virtually through a very important civic event: the 2020 U.S. Census.

This simple survey is just nine questions long, takes about 10 minutes to complete (per each member of your household), and determines hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for our communities through 2030.

With so much happening around us, it's easy to have overlooked the Census, but the stakes have never been so high.

Every decade, each person in the United States - young and old, regardless of citizenship - has the Constitutional right to be counted.

Here's a financial breakdown for you to consider:

• For every person left out of the 2020 Census Count, California could lose $1,000 per person, per year, for the next 10 years.
• That's a loss of $10,000 per uncounted person through 2030.
• For a family of five, that's $50,000 over the next decade that is lost.

Those of us who filled out our Census forms in 2010 gave the federal government a road map for this very moment.

That decade-old data was put into action during the COVID-19 pandemic, used to distribute federal funding to San Diego County and much-needed economic relief for working families and small businesses.

We need to ensure we continue to get funding for our community health clinics, senior programs, child health care, LGBTQ services, higher education, food programs and homelessness needs.

Census data will also be used to fund our roads, bridges and public transportation options we rely on, as well as our schools.

And it is clear to me that our true diversity needs to be reflected at this time, especially for our Black, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Indigenous and other communities of color.

The Census is not a citizenship survey. The current administration's ongoing attempt to circumvent the law and exclude immigrants amongst those counted is unconscionable and unconstitutional.

Census workers, called enumerators, are now going door-to-door to collect data. They are not allowed to ask for your social security number, political preference, bank account information, or religious affiliation. It also illegal for the Census Bureau to share your information with law enforcement or any other government agency.

In addition, you may receive paper materials in the mail or an official email from the U.S. Census. All emails from the Census Bureau are sent from the official @census.gov domain.

As you can tell, this is a test we want to achieve a 100 percent response to in our District, and Census workers will try every way to reach you.

Be counted! Avoid the face-to-face conversations, and take the next 10 minutes to complete your Census.

It is your right!

• Fill the Census out Online: 2020census.gov
• Complete the Census by Phone: 844-330-2020
• Return a Census Paper Questionnaire by Mail: Postmarked and mailed by Sept. 30, 2020

Toni Atkins Senator, 39th District