Over forty community members, representing multiples agencies across Owensboro, gathered at Audubon Area Services to begin the initial steps of the 2020 Census Complete Count Committee.
Tasked with informing Owensboro and Daviess County of the Census, the Complete Count Committee will implement programming to help increase community awareness and the survey’s accessibility. Census specialists led Friday’s meeting, explaining the importance of the 10-year government survey.
“Just like voting, it’s your right to representation in government,” said Crystal Boyett, partnership specialist for western Kentucky.
Census data is used to distribute more than $675 billion annually in federal funds to state and local governments, redistricting of state legislative districts and forecasting transportation needs. Boyett said one person failing to complete the Census equates to $972 per year that Kentucky loses in federal funding. Over 10 years, that means $9,720 dollars not available for things like Medicare, foster care, adoption and school lunch programs.
Committee members completed group activities determining which Owensboro demographics presented the biggest challenge to a successful census and which areas of the community were most difficult to count. Data shows that highly transient populations and those with low education levels had the lowest response rate and were located primarily in Daviess County’s northwestern sector.
Committee member Joe Berry, representing German American Bank, said he believes a lack of government trust, especially in low-response populations, is a major factor to consider.
“With the potential citizenship question still up for debate, it only adds to that fear,” Berry said.
Boyett and her Census specialist counterpart Chris Conklin explained that the Census is confidential and strictly a tabulation of data. The Census Bureau will never share a respondent’s information with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement or other law enforcement agencies or use information to determine someone’s eligibility for government benefits.
“If we can educate one to be a trusted voice then they can go back to that population to stress the importance of the Census and the importance of confidentiality,” Boyett said.
The 2020 Census will be the first time citizens can self-report online, which Boyett believes will increase responses. In Daviess County’s northwest sector, nearly 28 percent of the population did not self-report in 2010. Boyett said the Census Bureau would like to see that at 20 percent this year.
According to Boyett, 600,000 workers across the US will be hired as early as summer 2019 to help knock on doors to remind citizens of their civic duty. Boyett said the Census Bureau wants each citizen to see something stressing the importance of the survey at least five before Census Day on April 1, 2020.
Keith Sanders, executive director of the Hager Education Foundation, is chairing the Complete Count Committee. Sanders said there are not many things that can have a bigger impact on a community than the Census.
“The information tells us about where we are going,” Sanders said. “Then we can immerse ourselves in what we found out.”
