While some might say it's summer, or back to school season, others might say it's census season. And opportunity is knocking.

The 2020 census impacts everything from local grant funding, to healthcare, to educational programs based on local populations.

And while moving around under COVID may complicate your answer-- especially for students in a college town like Ithaca, census organizers say it's important to fill out your survey for where you typically would have been living April 1st. All of this data collection influences how residents everywhere from college towns to rural areas and everywhere in between are supported in the future.

Jeffrey Matteson, the TST BOCES Superintendent says his school system relies on census data for funding. "That really matters to us. All of our schools in our region received some type of funding from the federal government."

After pushing back the deadline for census collection due to COVID, now New York is pushing for residents to fill out their survey as soon as they can. And Behler said they've backed this effort with thousands of door knockers, "So in New York will probably have close to 30,000 at peak door knockers. Again, knocking on the doors of those households who don't self respond."

And in college towns like Ithaca, how that data impacts a community.

"Even though kids left the dorms before April 1 we still count them as if they were living there. That's the same criteria that goes for those off campus college students... Because that community deserves that funding that comes along with the population that they serve," Director of the US Census Bureau NY Region Jeff Behler said.

And in more rural areas, how it defines who has access to safe education as lesson plans become virtual. "With rural broadband when you're trying to close that last mile for all folks in our community. You need the federal funding to the rate program... And so it's a real deal," Matteson added.

And who gets proper nutrition at school. "We also feed a lot of kids, based on the federal support from those programs," Matteson said.

And Matteson emphasized that every survey counts. "If we don't have a correct count, or we have only certain populations respond to the census. It affects our percentages when it comes to those folks that may be in need of assistance from the federal government."

So when opportunity comes knocking... make sure you answer the call.

If you're interested in going door to door yourself, applications to be a census worker are being accepted online through the end of August. This information can be found here.