Maya McFadden Photos
Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz and Alder Furlow door knocking in Amity for the Census.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow paired up to knock doors on Ramsdell Street — not to get out the vote for an election, but to encourage Amity residents to fill out the 2020 Census.
The state and local political leaders started their Census canvassing at the corner of Ramsdell Street and Whalley Avenue in Furlow’s Ward 27 on Tuesday morning.
They distributed a census handout with information on what the once-a-decade headcount is and why it’s important, along with Census lanyards and chip clips.
The pair informed residents that completing the Census will help provide data of community populations to the federal government, which in turn will help determine the amounts of federal funding sent back to states and cities for daily services like healthcare, fire departments, schools, roads, and community initiatives.
Furlow joined Bysiewicz as a familiar face to his ward residents. As of Monday New Haven has a response rate of 49 percent according to 2020census.gov.
Bysiewicz said she hopes to see that number increase, particularly in areas with hard-to-count populations around New Haven. Connecticut has a total Census response rate of 65.35 percent as of Monday.
Bysiewicz has much of her first term as lieutenant governor getting out the word about the importance of the Census. That advocacy effort has continued throughout the pandemic. On June 18, she joined community leaders in Bridgeport to knock doors much like she did in New Haven on Tuesday.
Furlow was greeted by many familiar faces who said they have already completed the Census.
“I knew you would,” Furlow said with a smile to a neighbor. Bysiewicz asked that the residents who completed their Census pass along the handout to friends and family who haven’t yet.
One neighbor named Marcus told the pair he had already completed his household’s Census. He then spent a few minutes chatting with Bysiewicz and Furlow about the sculptures on his home’s front lawn.
For a few, the neighborhood walk led to conversations beyond the Census.
One of the Census 2020 doorknockers left behind by the political duo.
An elderly woman shared that only a month ago she battled Covid. “Now I’m feeling much better. Thank you for coming by,” she told the two politicians.
Federal funding for highly used programs throughout the state like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Medicare, Medicaid, The School Breakfast Program (SBP), The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), Pell grants and more all hinge Census data to determine federal dollar amounts.
“Every family in our state relies upon it,” Bysiewicz said. “It’s so important each person stand up and be counted. It’s safe and easy.”
Click here to fill out the Census online.
What is going on here?
Is this really anything more than a political stunt?
If Ms. Bysiewicz is concerned about getting better responses to the census "particularly in areas with hard-to-count populations around New Haven," what is she doing on Ramsdell Street?
The Census Bureau knows what addresses have returned questionnaires and what haven't. Is it legally able/willing to share that information, so that doorbell-ringing could be targeted? (Given the Trump admin. earlier attempts to thwart the census with a citizenship question, who knows.) The bureau is telling us percentages: New Haven has a response rate so far of 49%, CT a rate of 65%. Is better and more specific information available?
What, really, is the point of hit-or-miss doorbell ringing by two elected officials -- and spending time chatting people up about entirely different topics -- if not to call attention to themselves?
If state and local pols are truly interested in getting census responses -- for all the important reasons cited in the illustrated flyer -- they would be organizing and sending out teams of people to ring doorbells as if this were about an election turnout, not making this about their own visibility.