Ulster County is eligible to receive up to $138,000 of grant funding for census efforts

 KINGSTON, N.Y. - Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan announced during his Facebook live briefing that Ulster County will begin a robust Census 2020 outreach program utilizing funding allocated to the County by New York State. Ulster County’s current Census Response Rate is 56.7% just shy of the state response rate 58.7%. The County will work with several non-profit partners and community groups to ensure that a greater number of hard-to-count individuals and areas in the County are reached. 

“The Census, beyond its role in choosing our elected representatives, is used for the allocation of a myriad of federal funds that include health care, schools, and housing” County Executive Ryan said. “A complete count of the individuals living in Ulster County assures that these services receive a fair share and ultimately impact the lives of our residents.”  

New York State has recently announced that it has allocated funding to provide grants to counties for census outreach, and Ulster County is eligible to receive up to $138,000. Currently, the 2020 Census efforts, and those of the County have been affected by the pandemic that has limited face-to-face contact.  The County plans to use this money, in conjunction with our community partners, to redesign our outreach program using social media, digital town halls, print media, and other activities such as phone banking and peer-to-peer texting, to get the word out. Census numbers will be used to determine how much emergency relief Ulster County will get in response to the pandemic in addition to many critical services.

Our community partner’s efforts will be directed towards the hard-to-count individuals that they serve, including seniors, youth, minorities, the farm community, and those with language barriers. 

“CCE of Ulster County is pleased to see Ulster County initiate a comprehensive census outreach program,” Jared Buono, Executive Director of the Cornell Cooperative Extension said. “The 2020 Census comes at a critical time where the allocation of federal funds for activities such as food and nutrition programming, assistance to farmers is being dramatically challenged by COVID19. At CCE, we welcome the opportunity to assist in reaching rural and farm communities, youth, and those in our other programs.  I urge all of those living in Ulster County to Complete the Census.”

Complete the census now at: my2020census.gov      

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