Student Senate heard a presentation from a partnership specialist with the US Census bureau on Wednesday who explained the importance of getting an accurate number.
Aaron Dagres stressed the importance of filling out the US Census, as students make up the majority of the Athens population.
“It’s so important we make sure we get everyone counted because of the funding impacts that has, because of all the community impact that has,” Dagres said.
Dagres said census information is important in allocating money to programs like Medicaid, Pell Grants, the headstart program and the national school lunch program.
“What I like to tell people, it doesn't matter whether or not you’re the most fortunate person living within our communities or the least fortunate person living in our communities, we're all directly impacted by that data even if you think that none of these (programs) apply to you,” he said.
Dagres said aspects such as EMS services are also funded with the use of census data. He explained that for the first time, the census will offer online self reporting for this year and failure to report could result in redistricting and a loss in representation and funding.
“If we do not get a complete and accurate count in the state of Ohio, we could lose representation in D.C.,” he said. “When it comes to representation in D.C. it directly ties in to redistricting, how we draw those boundaries, those federal congressional districts.”
He said information is always kept private, safe and secure and that legally, the census bureau is not allowed to share data with other federal government agencies.
Three resolutions were also passed which appointed a senator to the residence life commission and appointed both a chair and senator to the budget committee.
