The 2020 U.S. Census ended on October 16th, and Wilton should be very proud!
Not only did we exceed the self-response rate for New Hampshire overall, but we had the largest improvement from the 2010 score of any town! The final self-response results are below. Remember that "self-response" rates include those who completed their census themselves via the mail, online or via phone.
Thank you to all Wilton residents who filled out their census!
And a big thankyou to the hard-working Wilton Complete Count Committee, pictured below from left to right: Pat Fickett, Jackie Kahle, Donna Crane, Deb Mortvedt and Joanna Eckstrom. Not pictured: Kat Tighe.
The
Wilton Complete Count Committee is focused on ensuring Wilton’s full participation in the 2020 U.S. Census. According to the Census Bureau, a Complete Count Committee is a “
group of government and community leaders who come together to raise awareness about the 2020 Census and motivate community members to respond”.
This committee does not do the actual census work – the bureau hires part-time/temporary workers for this. Rather, our mission is to raise awareness around the census and its value, and promote the census in Wilton, with the goal of achieving maximum participation. This year for the first time, people will be able to fill out their census form online, which should simplify access to, and participation in, the census.
The committee began meeting in 2019 and ramped up our efforts in 2020. We put up posters and flyers around town (see links at right) and have been promoting the Census via our social media accounts.
Most significantly, we staffed a Census informational table at both the Town Meeting and School District meetings in March, and designated the Wilton Library as “Census Central”, with large banners outside and inside. There is a dedicated computer and a resource at the Library to help people fill out their census, targeting those who do not have a good Internet connection at home. We also held informational sessions at the Library to raise awareness.
All other planned in-person outreach activities have been suspended as of early March, when the global pandemic took hold. However, we continue to communicate via social media and share the status of how Wilton is doing as compared to the rest of Hillsborough County and New Hampshire overall.
In June we received a grant to do a paper mailing to all P.O. Boxes in town encouraging them to complete their census online or via phone, which resulted in a bump in our completion rate. We also received a sign which we have installed on the island near the "dummy" at the end of Main Street.
In July, we launched a contest on Facebook which provides two gift bags of "census swag" along with gift from the Wilton House of Pizza and Nelson's.
This site contains many helpful links to materials put together by the Census Bureau to help you understand their strategy and plans, and the benefits of participating in the census. We have also posted Minutes of our meetings here.
MEMBERS
| Name |
| Jackie Kahle (Chair) |
| Donna Crane |
| Joanna Eckstrom |
| Pat Fickett |
| Deb Mortvedt |
| Kat Tighe |