Make Your Online Time Count

**UPDATE**

This Just In at 2:20 p.m.

The U.S. Census Bureau has adjusted its operation timeline, which includes extending the last day to respond to the 2020 Census to August 14, 2020. 

“We encourage all Coloradans to respond to the invitation they received in their mailbox as soon as possible,” stated Laurie Cipriano with U.S. Census Bureau in a press release distributed to media outlets at 2 p.m. on March 24.  “Self-responding will minimize the need for the U.S. Census Bureau to send census takers out into the community to knock on doors.”

Tracking 2020 Census Self Response Rates

To date, more than 24% of Colorado households have self-responded to the 2020 Census. Check out this MAP. It tracks response rates by state and will be updated seven days a week.  Remember, you don’t have to wait for an invitation to respond to the 2020 Census. You can go to 2020census.gov or call 1-844-330-2020 and cross it off your TO DO list today. Let’s make Colorado the state with the highest 2020 Census self response rate in the nation!

Operational Adjustments

Households Using P.O. Boxes – The U.S. Census Bureau currently plans to drop off census packets (with an invitation and paper questionnaire) in April. Bureau employees will leave the packets at the door, without knocking or ringing doorbells.

Counting College Students

College students should be counted where they live and sleep most of the time, according to the Census Bureau’s residence criteria. College students should be counted where they live and attend college, even if campuses have closed or gone online temporarily for the remainder of the Spring semester.

Counting Group Quarters

The U.S. Census Bureau is working with administrators at nursing homes, college dorms, prisons and other institutional living facilities to ensure their residents are counted. Administrators have choices when it comes to counting their residents, such as eResponse or providing a paper listing. The U.S. Census Bureau plans to conduct this operation between April and June. 

Counting Homeless Populations

The U.S. Census Bureau is working with service providers at emergency and transitional shelters and soup kitchens to count the populations they serve. We are contactingthe service providers to ask them to provide a listing of census response data by May 1, 2020 for each person served or staying at the facility.

The Original Post

As more residents adjust to online living, working and learning in Leadville Today, this post will provide some ways to make good use of some of your digital time. From making sure that you’re counted in the 2020 Census to honoring a loved one this Memorial Day makes your stay-at-home time count for something good.

One, Two Three: Count Me In

Has yours arrived? Have you already filled it out and returned it? Or maybe you opted for the online reporting option? It’s Census 2020 time!

As of this post (3/24/2020), Lake County reports 11.3% for local Census form returns; all but that .3% were completed on the internet. It’s important that the number tick up with only one week to go until the official Census Day on April 1. And in light of current events, it’s also a local population which could be shifting and dispersing as jobs dry up and the off-season sets in much earlier than usual. So far, Leadville seems to be below the state’s average of census forms that have been returned, which is at 19.3%, just a smidge above the national average at 19.2%.

Clearly there are other, more immediate concerns, but the 2020 Census could be more important than ever for Lake County this time around. No doubt, you’ve heard the sound-bites about how the census statistics are used to determine the number of seats each state holds in the U.S. House of Representatives and informs how billions of dollars in federal funds will be allocated by the state, local and federal lawmakers annually for the next 10 years. And while that first measure can often get lost in the political fog, the second point is significant to small rural communities like Leadville.

Since the last census, Lake County has seen changes in the reporting of data for the local population which could impact how the money comes down the pipeline to Harrison Avenue. For example, babies used to be born in Leadville. Albeit with the planned homebirths and didn’t-quite-make-it-to-the-birthing-room aside, families used to give birth here. There were birth announcements about Leadville babies printed in the local newspaper. As such, they were recorded statistically. Now they are recorded, over the hill in Frisco or down south in Salida where those communities receive certain benefits from those births being officially recorded in their towns.

Online Census: How To Count

Older residents, especially those who had generational ties to Lake County, were also counted.  They aged here, and then they died here. Leadville used to have an extended care unit where the elderly could age in place, visited daily by their family members. Those older American and death numbers mattered too in regard to census numbers and the funds attached to them. But local data doesn’t show those numbers anymore, as options for older residents to age-in-place have diminished in recent years.

So what will the 2020 Census look like and how will it impact this community? There are many more second homeowners who have short-term rentals which used to provide homes for the new babies and older residents who could afford Leadville’s housing market ten years ago.  What about the forms that arrived in their mailboxes (if they even have one), will those fall to the recycle bin along with the economic benefits that go with them?

It will be interesting to see how the numbers represent on the 2020 Census now that the day-to-day reality of living in America’s highest city has changed. Once the April 1 deadline comes and goes, the next step in the original plan is for census takers to visit households that have not yet responded. They will collect the census responses in person. And while the federal agency has not released how they might deal with that next step in light of COVID-19 concerns, best practices for Lake County are going to be to ramp up the online response within the next week. Otherwise, it’s hard to tell whether seasonal workers will have already moved on or moved back home never to have been counted.

Count for Something: 2020 Census

It’s time to take the 2020 Census challenge. The next time you’re talking to friends or posting online, and you’re looking to switch it up, try this: “Have you filled out your census form yet? You know you can do it online or over the phone.”

After all, the goal of the 2020 Census is to count everyone who lives in the United States as of April 1, 2020 (Census Day). So take the 2020 Census challenge. It has never been easier to respond on your own, whether online, over the phone or by mail—all without having to meet a census taker. For more information, visit 2020census.gov.

Veterans Memorial Deadline: April 3

It might seem a little out of the ordinary to be talking about Memorial Day in the middle of March, but there’s a good reason for it. Friday, April 3 is the deadline to submit an application for engraving on the memorial in order to be complete by the 2018 Memorial Day Weekend Services.

This is an opportunity to honor those who served with a name engraving on the Lake County Veterans Memorial granite plaque. Families from Leadville, Lake County and across the United States can add the name of any veteran deceased or living to the south plaque.

In order to have the plaque readied by Memorial Day 2020, applications and fees ($75 per name) must be received by April 3, 2020. Please consider an engraving or a simple, straight-up donation by contacting Brad Palmer at 719-207-1380 or mailing a check to Lake County Veteran Memorial, PO Box 952, Leadville, CO 80461. To download an application: CLICK.

As of this post, the 2020 Lake County Memorial Day Services are still planned for Sunday, May 24. The local ceremony is on Sunday of the holiday rather than the traditional Memorial Day Monday to accommodate those traveling to the event and to encourage more people to attend. So mark the calendars for May 24 for the annual event held at the Lake County Veterans Memorial at Evergreen Cemetery in Leadville at 1 p.m.

All Aboard for Good Neighbors

Some good news from the Leadville, Colorado and Southern Railroad as the tourist attraction stays busy this winter with the building of their new Lounge cars, renovated from some old railroad boxcars. You can follow their progress on the Leadville Railroad’s YouTube Channel. But this video of the unexpected “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” moment was with a direct share. “Look for the helpers,” the famous childhood TV star would tell frightened watchers during times of uncertainty. Still holds true in Leadville Today!