It's crunch time for those Americans who have yet to fill out their 2020 Census forms.
The deadline is set for September 30.
The 20 counties that make up the southern Illinois region are 3.3 % behind where they were in 2010.
Kate Fakhoury is the Southern IllinoisCommunity Organizerwith Illinois Partners for Human Service. She says Hardin County -- the state's least populous -- is lagging far behind at minus 22.8 % with just 34 % of its residents responding so far.
"Hardin County is very unique in that it's such a rural area that they tend to have post office boxes instead of actual addresses. So, I've contacted Census personnel and brought that to their attention and I believe that they have been sent actual Census forms to fill out now."
She says it takes just a few minutes and has some serious economic implications for your local area.
"It's estimated that $1,600 will be brought in each year for each person who fills out their Census in Illinois. That's each year for a decade."
But, Fakhoury says some people don't believe it's important to fill out the Census form because they don't see the money returning to their communities.
"If they could only be aware of all of the different functions the Census provides money for. It helps with federal funding, state funding for a wide, wide, wide variety of programs."
There are various ways to get help filling out the Census form:
Online at my2020census.gov
Text Census to 987-987
Call the helpline at 844-330-2020
