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OUT FOR THE COUNT: Glendale, Valley officials spread the word about the census

Posted 12/18/19

Local officials are out to spread the word: make sure you count in 2020.

The country’s decennial census will take place next year and every man, woman and child counts — toward how …

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OUT FOR THE COUNT: Glendale, Valley officials spread the word about the census

Posted

Local officials are out to spread the word: make sure you count in 2020.

The country’s decennial census will take place next year and every man, woman and child counts — toward how much state and federal funding a city receives and how much well represented an area is in the state legislature and U.S. Congress.

“It helps to shape our community, really for years to come,” said Jenna Goad, Glendale’s assistant director of Public Affairs, during a presentation to City Council about the city’s outreach efforts.

Residents will begin receiving census questionnaires in the mail in March and can complete and send in the questionnaire through the mail, over the phone or — for the first time this year — online. If residents fail to self-report by the end of April, census workers will be sent out to knock on their door to try to get them to complete the questionnaire.

If Glendale’s population is undercounted, it will lose out on part of its share of state and federal funding. Every Glendale resident counted equates to about $3,000 of funds for the city.

“That revenue affects essentially every city program and service that we have,” Ms. Goad said. “And so, if our count is lower than it should be, we would be missing out on those funds that we need to be providing the services to the members of our community.”

In the case of an undercount, the area will not be fairly represented in government bodies. Census data is used to form Glendale’s City Council districts, state legislative districts and U.S. congressional districts. Projections show that Arizona will increase from nine to 10 congressional seats this year because of population increase.

“It’s important to make sure that Glendale and our residents are receiving the representation that we deserve across all those different levels of government,” Ms. Goad said.

The effort to spread the word about the census has already begun. Local government and educational leaders and volunteers are out to inform residents about the census and make sure they don’t go uncounted.

This is particularly important in Glendale, where response rates in Glendale were lower in peer communities like Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Peoria. City staff is targeting specific areas for increased education efforts this year, based on a map that shows which areas had low self-report rates in the 2010 census.

“The good news is we can use that data to target then what we do this time in 2020 to try to make sure that our turnout is higher than it was last time.”

Based on historical data, residents that are low income, non-English speaking, seniors, and children are among the groups most at risk of being undercounted.

The U.S. Census Bureau has distributed information to municipalities and school districts to aid in their education outreach. The Maricopa Association of Governments is spearheading most of the efforts in Arizona, coordinating with many municipalities.

Schools can be one of the most important places to educate about the census, because children 5 and younger were the most under-counted group in 2010. The population of Maricopa County is 4.4 million as of July 1, 2018, according to the census. Children under 5 years old make up about 6.3%, or about 280,000. About 10% of children in Arizona were missed in the 2010 census.

Ms. Goad said she’d already spoken to Glendale Community College and Glendale Elementary School District to spread the word about the census.

The Census Bureau also plans to advertise to young mothers and grandparents.

To make sure all children are counted, the city of Phoenix launched a campaign called My 1st Census, which is geared toward parents of children under 10 years old, who for the first time will be counted in a decennial census.

In education, census information is used for school attendance projections, boundary determinations and new school construction projections.

Glendale leaders have been working with MAG on regional census efforts. Goodyear City Manager Julie Arendall co-chairs the Regional Census Communication Group with Chandler City Manager Marsha Reed.

“The region knows how important having a good count is,” Ms. Arendall said. “I mean, we’re one of the fastest-growing regions in the entire nation, and it’s important to get our fair share of bringing home those federal resources to our community.”

The group has representatives from every Maricopa County city and town who have come together to have common messaging and leverage resources. Next year, the group plans to buy ads on billboards, bus stops, in print, on radio and on TV. MAG has contracted the public affairs firm Riester to lead its advertisement campaign.

Aside from children, other under-counted communities include renters, black people and Latino people. Census Bureau analysis found people who rent their homes were under-counted by 1.1% in 2010. Winter visitors should be sure to only be counted at one address. One reason for over-counting can be people who own multiple homes reporting at both of their addresses.

The 2010 census overcounted white, non-Hispanic residents by 0.8% and under-counted 2.1% of the black population.

Local census advertisements will be bought in both English and Spanish. Glendale is trying to ensure that all of its census literature is available in both English and Spanish. The census is available in 12 non-English languages, including Spanish, and assistance will be available for 59 total languages.

The Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to add a question about a person’s citizenship status to the census in the summer. Ocotillo Councilman Jamie Aldama suggested the city emphasize as part of their campaign that the citizenship question would not be asked, in case residents weren’t aware the question was removed and were potentially afraid to self-report because of it.

All information given to the census is confidential. The Census Bureau cannot share it with any other person, business or government agency. The information cannot be released for 72 years.

Beware of anyone posing as a census worker who isn’t. The easiest way to spot a census worker is by the census tote bag they’ll be carrying. They will also have a badge and a laptop with them. If a census worker comes to your door, you can also verify their status by plugging their name and/or badge number in at census.gov/cgi-bin/main/email.cgi .

Ms. Goad encourages anyone with questions about the census to visit icount2020.info or glendaleaz.com/census .

One key component to Glendale’s census outreach has been to connect to community leaders such as schools, churches, HOAs, neighborhood groups and businesses. Hearing the message that the census data is confidential and cannot be shared might mean more to some coming from a friendly face, she said.

“I think it’s one thing if it’s coming from us, from the government, but if those trusted leaders can have that information and can share that information, I think it will have a much greater impact,” Ms. Goad said.

Glendale staff is also reaching out to local nonprofit groups that receive federal grant funding through the city that is reliant on census data. The city is also distributing targeted literature at libraries and recreation centers to those participating in programs paid for through census-driven funds that they should complete the census questionnaire to ensure Glendale maintains its funds for those programs.

Aside from government funding and representation, Ms. Goad pointed out that businesses will use census population numbers to decide if they’re going to invest in an area.

“Businesses, governments and other organizations use that information to plan future facilities, future programs, future restaurants and retail businesses, etc.,” she said.

Mark Carlisle can be reached at mcarlisle@newszap.com or found on Twitter @mwcarlisle.