Though Owensboro and Daviess County started off strong in self-response rates, officials with the Daviess County Complete Count Committee (DCCCC) said numbers have greatly decreased since mid-May.
Owensboro continues to rank high in comparison to other cities’ response rates, but the DCCCC are pushing for more responses from residents across the community.
Due to COVID-19, the nationwide Census response deadline was extended from Aug. 31 to Oct. 31.
Currently, Owensboro and Daviess County are very close to matching their 2010 self-response rate percentage of 75.5%. At a current response rate of 74.4%, and with several months left to go, officials are hoping to break out of the plateau period and push those numbers up to around 80%.
Committee chairperson Keith Sanders said the community is doing a great job so far, and that he believes this year’s response rate will be higher than the 2010 percentage.
“This 2020 Census is the first time people can choose to respond via their phone, their laptop or their iPad. We believe substantial numbers of people are choosing to do that,” he said.
According to data compiled by Chad Gesser, associate professor of sociology with Owensboro Community & Technical College, Daviess County’s self-response rate was nearly 50% by the end of March, but it dipped significantly from May 10-June 9.
Certain tracts of the City and County have done better than others — which is normal, Sanders said.
The City’s most undercounted tract so far runs from Walnut to East Eighth Street and from the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art to the Ohio River. The area is home to approximately 1,727 people, and so far has a roughly 53% response rate.
Of the responses so far in that tract, just more than half were done via the internet while the rest were done via the phone or mail.
The City’s most responsive tract — which runs from the Wendell Ford Expressway to Princeton Parkway and from Imperial Place to Frederica Street, currently has a 82.3% response rate. The 2,343 people who live in that area have used the internet to submit Census questionnaires at a much higher rate as well, at 71.8%.
However, both tracts have seen response rates essentially plateau over the last couple of months.
Sanders said the Census committee is always focused on reaching out to low-responding tracts that are typically home to more elderly citizens, low-income families, non-English speaking residents and single parents.
He said starting Sept. 1, Census takers will start knocking on the doors of those who have not responded.
Sanders said data from the Census Bureau revealed that 90% of all individuals have access to the Census questionnaire through their cell phones.
But whether undercounted populations in Owensboro have the same access to WiFi — which doesn’t use up cell phone data — or to computers, iPads or laptops was something of which Sanders said he wasn’t sure.
“I think, most times, if you have a cell phone, you can complete the Census,” Sanders said. “We’re still working at it. We have signs at the schools’ summer feeding sites that provide information about the Census. We had a lot of outreach parties scheduled [for undercounted populations] and COVID-19 prevented those from happening. We’re still trying to figure out what we can do to spread the word as we get closer to the deadline.”
Because of COVID-19, Sanders said he expects a slightly lower response rate than he initially hoped for. Still, he said, those on the DCCCC are expecting a higher response rate than was reported 10 years ago.
“We were hoping to hit 85% before COVID — that would’ve been doable,” he said. “Right now, we want at least 80%. An 85% is probably going to be a stretch.”
