Mayor's Message: Final 2020 Census Results
Posted on: November 1, 2020 - 8:32pm
Hi everyone,
The 2020 census has finally concluded and we are delighted to report that 80.1% of Village households self responded – we met our goal of 80% at the eleventh hour thanks to each of you! We are among only 8 municipalities in Westchester County that had an 80%+ response rate and we reported the 26th highest response rate in New York State (out of 597 municipalities). In the end, we exceeded our 2010 rate of 76.2% by 3.9%, and our 2000 rate of 76 by 4.1%. For those of you interested in the national statistics and how we rank see HERE – just select New York State and scroll down till you find us.
These achievements are something for which all of us should be proud – the census numbers will affect our everyday life for years to come. As we explained at the outset of this exercise, every person counted represents about $2,500 a year in federal funds for our Village. The data will be used to determine funding for our schools, the roads we drive on, fire and police services and programs for seniors and families. It will also be used to determine the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives, and is used to draw congressional and state legislative districts.
Congratulations and a very special thank you to Linda Loeb, Deputy Village Clerk, who spearheaded our efforts, and to her core team Lisa O’Reilly and Susan Maggiotto. They developed creative strategies to reach “hard to count” residents to ensure we included everyone. They came up with many new and fun ways to remind people to respond. We also owe a debt of gratitude to our amazing IT team, Raf and Jen, who sent messages out to all residents via multiple media and created our census thermometer so everyone could keep track of how we were doing. Also thanks to Mary Beth Murphy our Village Manager and all the staff who prioritized and supported these efforts.
Our school system has been a true partner in disseminating the census message, and we are grateful to Superintendent Valerie Henning-Piedmonte as well as Jeanine Genauer and Melissa DeLaBarrera who were instrumental in getting the message out via school eblasts and robo calls.
Undertaking a census during a pandemic is no small task and County Executive George Latimer and his team deserve praise for taking the census effort so seriously and for mobilizing County residents to get counted. Heartfelt thanks to Westchester County Commissioner of Planning, Norma Drummond, who was appointed to lead this effort and who has been a constant source of inspiration and advice to all municipalities in Westchester. Thanks also to the census enumerators living in our Village who were an integral part of the County effort here in Hastings-on-Hudson and in nearby towns.
And finally, thanks to every single one of you – you made all the difference!
Sincerely,
Nicola Armacost
Mayor