Michigan Works! Southwest Announces U.S. Census Partnership

KALAMAZOO, MI — Michigan Works! Southwest is excited to announce that we’ve partnered with the United States Census Bureau to support the 2020 Census. As a partner, we’ll be working to ensure that our community is accurately represented.

For the first time, in 2020 the U.S. Census Bureau will accept responses online. The process will be quick and secure. Michigan Works! Southwest recognizes the barrier an online completion option might present for individuals in our community, therefore we would like to extend our service centers as designated census completion locations.

Individuals are welcome to come into their nearest service center to complete their census form — no questions asked!

As a workforce development solution, the U.S. Census is incredibly important to us. A complete count of every person in the United States has tremendous benefits for our community:

• It is used as the basis for distributing more than $675 billion in federal funds annually to states, counties, and communities to support resources such as schools, hospitals and fire departments.
• It informs business decisions (business expansion), policy, community initiatives and consumer advocacy.
• It provides the basis for distributing grants for economic development.
• It helps business owners enhance their hiring practices and identify skilled workers in their community.
• It determines how much funding our community receives and its representation in government.

Households will begin receiving official Census Bureau mail with detailed information on how to respond by mail, phone or online mid-March. To learn more about the importance of responding to the 2020 Census, visit 2020census.gov.