Hays County, San Marcos Complete Count Committees To Raise Census Awareness Through Hotline 2-1-1

*This article has been updated for correction and clarification. The 2-1-1 Hotline is not an exclusive information line for Census information. The hotline provides information about resources in the Greater Austin area; it’s operators have been trained to provide info on the census as well. The headline and article have been changed to reflect this information. 

Hays County Courthouse, San Marcos, TX – The U.S. Census Complete Count Committees of Hays County and the City of San Marcos will gather at the Historic Courthouse at 11 AM on Tuesday, Feb. 11, to raise awareness about 2-1-1.

2-1-1 is the 24-hour, multilingual hotline connecting callers with information about resources in the Greater Austin community, for example, information on where to find food, housing or child care.

United Way for Greater Austin manages this phone line and has now trained its call specialists to also answer questions about the upcoming 2020 census.

The 2-1-1 helpline is a partnership between the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and the United Way for Greater Austin.

The United Way for Greater Austin has provided serious funding support to help maximize Census participation in the region, including an $8,000 grant to Hays County, a $10,000 grant to the immigrant-rights organization Mano Amiga, and a $59,000 grant for media outreach shared among Hays and four other counties.

Local elected officials, non-profit leaders, and other civic champions will briefly speak about the importance of ensuring a complete U.S. Census count this year in Hays County to avoid leaving tens of millions of dollars in federal funding on the table, as occurred in 2010.

A light lunch will be served.