Saud Anwar

Senator Anwar Gives Support to East Hartford Delegation Joining Lt. Governor to Emphasize Importance of 2020 Census

EAST HARTFORD, CT – Today, State Senator Saud Anwar (D-East Hartford) gave his support to a coalition of legislators including Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, State Representative Jason Rojas (D-East Hartford) and East Hartford Mayor Marcia LeClerc who came together Monday morning at the East Hartford Public Library to emphasize the importance of making sure every state resident is counted in the 2020 Census.

“This Census will be one of the most impactful in American history,” said Sen. Anwar, “and I am so grateful to the Lieutenant Governor for coming to East Hartford to educate the public. The Census doesn’t just count our population but it leads to important state and federal changes, including allotments of federal funding, so we must ensure everyone is properly counted.”

“Governor Lamont and I in February launched a statewide effort to count every person in the 2020 Census,” said Lt. Gov. Bysiewicz. “This is a massive effort to count 3.5 million people; we wanted to make sure we had an organization in place so we began to put together a group of more than 100 organizations across our state in this important effort. We’ve been traveling across the state and have visited more than 25 towns talking about the importance of our Census, encouraging towns and cities to start their own Complete Count Committees and we congratulate East Hartford for doing that. This is critical to Connecticut because $11 billion is riding on it. For each person we undercount, that means $2,200 we lose. This is also important for the future of our state. We also need to stand up and make sure, for redistricting purposes at both the state and federal level, that everyone is counted.”

“Every member of the town of East Hartford must be counted in 2020,” said Mayor LeClerc. “We know the significant loss of revenue that could happen to East Hartford and we know that we have a population that presently is significantly undercounted. Over 11 percent of East Hartford residents have not been counted in the past; we look forward to finding them. Our community development block grants and other significant funding are tied to this, and over the years we have seen CDBG funds decline while other towns are growing. That’s concerning. If we fall below a count of 50,000 residents, we will see a decline in federal funding. We know we have to meet our residents and we have an obligation to make sure they are counted.”

More information about the 2020 Census efforts, including how members of the public can work as Census employees and about the new phone and internet options, can be found at www.census.gov and www.2020census.gov/jobs.