Officials stress importance of census for minority communities
3rd August 2020 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
The 2020 census is underway and leaders are emphasizing the importance of citizens’ response so cities can receive adequate funding for many important government programs and benefits.
“It’s so very important to keep the conversation alive, to keep it at the top of people’s minds in Black and African-American communities, particularly when we’re moving through a period of time when people have incredible pressures and incredible distractions,” said Austin Patrick, a strategist for Team Y&R, the communications contractor for the 2020 census.
Marilyn Stephens, the assistant regional census manager for the Atlanta region (which includes New Orleans), said this census is unique because it offers respondents three different ways to self-respond: online (my2020census.gov), by phone (844-330-2020), or by mail when the questionnaire arrives in the mailbox.
Census responses determine how government funds are spent in American communities. If cities are undercounted in the census, they can lose political representation. Stephens said approximately $670 billion in funds will be allocated for healthcare, hospitals, education, programs for seniors and veterans, as well as other benefits like SNAP and affordable housing grants.
“What we need right now is for every household to stop what they’re doing, go online, call the toll-free number, or complete the paper questionnaire,” Stephens said. “Don’t leave any money on the table…Ensure your community gets its fair share.”
Stephens said if people do not respond, a census worker will ring their doorbells soon and ask if they have completed the census. Non-response follow-ups will begin in earnest on August 11, but a soft launch of non-response follow-ups has begun in a handful of cities, including New Orleans. All workers will be equipped with PPE (personal protective equipment) because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell said this will be the Crescent City’s first real census since 2000. In 2010, many New Orleanians were still displaced because of the levee failures following Hurricane Katrina. “We’re using this as a tremendous opportunity to regain some ground and some resources we left on the table by not having an adequate response in 2010,” Cantrell said.
Mayor Cantrell is pleased by the response so far. The final response rate for New Orleans in 2010 was 43.8 percent and it was already at 53.9 percent as of Friday, July 24. She added that responding to the census should be seen as an obligation by New Orleanians, especially since a better count means more healthcare resources.
“This city has been disproportionately impacted by COVID, which really underscored the needs for our people to be counted,” Cantrell said. “Every resident counts and every resident should be counted.”
While New Orleans’ response rate of 53.9 percent is better than its 2010 response rate, it is still currently below the national response rate of 62.1 percent. Orleans Parish’s response rate also remains lower than the response rates for the following parishes: St. Charles (66.1%), St. Tammany (64.8%), Jefferson (62.4%), Ascension (62.1%), Lafourche (61.2%), Lafayette (61.1%), Caddo (59.7%), East Baton Rouge (59.6%), and Bossier (59%). When compared to nearby cities, New Orleans is narrowly better than Houston (53.0%) and Dallas (53.7%), but below Austin (60.8%), Fort Worth (59.1%), San Antonio (59.1%), and Oklahoma City (60.6%).
Government officials are focused on creating effective messaging that will spread the word to various communities about the importance of the census. Stephens said one productive avenue has been focusing on faith-based organizations. Even with church services limited in a COVID-19 world, many people watch them online and religious people can still spread the word to non-practicing friends or family.
Stephens also encouraged all citizens to ask ten friends or family members if they have completed the census and challenge them to ask another ten people.
Patrick said the response rate among New Orleans’ African Americans was at 55 percent, which places it slightly ahead of the city’s overall response. He said some of the recent traumas the community has endured (COVID-19, the murder of George Floyd) have likely encouraged people to be more responsive.
“We believe that this is because census participation becomes a tangible way for people to do something,” Patrick said.
This article originally published in the August 3, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
