The census is mandated by the constitution and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, a nonpartisan government agency and is designed to count every person living in the United States and the five U.S. territories. Each household was sent out a short questionnaire with the option to respond online, by phone, or by mail.

“There is still a lot of work to be done,” said County Commissioner Chairman Linda Rouse Sutton.

As of August 27th, the national self-response rate for the 2020 Census was at 64.7%. In the state of North Carolina, the self-response rate was at 60.6%. The self-response rate was 57.7% in Lenoir County, 52.9% in Jones County, and 55.0% in Greene County.

“Most of the advertising was made on social media,” said Rouse Sutton. “We’d just started doing planned events for the Census when COVID happened.” The planned events at the public library and the fairgrounds were canceled due to the pandemic.

The 2020 Census will determine congressional representation as well as provide data that will impact communities for the next ten years. The census also determines how federal funding is allocated by location for services including Medicaid, Head Start, block grants for community mental health services, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP.

“I just wish we could make our folks realize how important the census is for our financial dollars,” said Rouse Sutton.

The county commissioners partnered with the health department, the city of Kinston, Kinston Community Health Center, Greene Lamp, the Council on Aging, the public library, Partnership with Children of Lenoir and Greene Counties, the NAACP, Kinston Teens, the public School system, and the community college to get the information on the 2020 Census into the hands of the public that needs to complete it.

“We have a robust community partnership with a lot of great leadership,” said Rouse Sutton. “They were given information to disperse it through their organizations.

With all three counties trailing the state and national response, it will be important for local residents to complete the 2020 Census survey. Census takers are going throughout neighborhoods to those who have not yet responded to close the gap on the uncompleted surveys.