diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index 8b6b7a7755..34b668e621 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ workflows:
       - unit_tests:
           matrix:
             parameters:
-              python_version: [ "3.7" ]
+              python_version: [ "3.7", "3.9" ]
               core_dependencies: [ false ]
               codecov: [ false ]
           name: "linux python << matrix.python_version >> unit tests, core dependencies << matrix.core_dependencies >>, codecov << matrix.codecov >>"
diff --git a/docs/Makefile b/docs/Makefile
index 6f6d0b1b58..be36fab7e0 100644
--- a/docs/Makefile
+++ b/docs/Makefile
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ clean:
 
 .PHONY: html
 html:
-	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b html $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/html $(SPHINXOPTS)
+	$(SPHINXBUILD) -b html $(ALLSPHINXOPTS) $(BUILDDIR)/html $(SPHINXOPTS) -j 'auto'
 	@echo
 	@echo "Build finished. The HTML pages are in $(BUILDDIR)/html."
 
diff --git a/docs/source/release_notes.rst b/docs/source/release_notes.rst
index 20c1453986..727426e63f 100644
--- a/docs/source/release_notes.rst
+++ b/docs/source/release_notes.rst
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ Release Notes
         * Removed ``data_checks`` parameter, ``data_check_results`` and data checks logic from ``AutoMLSearch`` :pr:`1935`
     * Documentation Changes
     * Testing Changes
-        * Remove ``build_docs`` CI job in favor of RTD GH builder :pr:`1974`
+        * Removed ``build_docs`` CI job in favor of RTD GH builder :pr:`1974`
+        * Added tests to confirm support for Python 3.9 :pr:`1724`
 
 .. warning::