Data influence development in a big way. Road maintenance, construction, public transportation: communities large and small rely on accurate data to plan and fund these projects, and the US census is a major source of such data. With the 2020 census coming up in April, communities of all sizes will have to decide how to prepare.
The City of Circle Pines, Minnesota, has seen firsthand the importance of getting an accurate count. During the 2010 Census, the city counted 4,918 people—just shy of the 5,000 they needed to qualify for better State Aid roadway funding. This was eventually fixed, says City Administrator Patrick Antonen; special state legislation gave the city an exemption that treats Circle Pines as a city of over 5,000 and grants them corresponding annual transportation funds. If not for the special exemption, the city would have deferred some maintenance such as seal coating, Antonen says. The legislation is not permanent; it will hold until the 2020 census and must be renewed if the situation repeats itself, he adds.
On a wider scale, Minnesota as a whole has similar stakes in the 2020 census. In 2016, according to a fact sheet from the Counting for Dollars 2020 Project, the state received around $15 billion in federal program funding, $659 million of which was allocated toward highway planning and construction. This funding is distributed, in part, based on the census.
As the US census Bureau begins sending out participation reminders in March, individual states and cities have to decide how much effort they plan to add to the process. In 2010, says Andrew Virden, director of census operations and engagement at the Minnesota State Demographic Center (SDC), Minneapolis spent around $100,000 of its own money on census outreach efforts. The extra money, he adds, was well worth it; the city’s response rate rose by 5 percent.
The key in 2020, Virden says, will be “getting the right message to the right people.” Certain communities, particularly poor, minority, and rental populations, tend to be difficult to count due to language barriers, lack of access to technology, distrust of the government, or difficulties notifying them. These “hard to count” communities stand to gain or lose a lot, Virden says; undercounts might drive away businesses, result in underfunding for public projects and maintenance, and discourage new residents.
The Minnesota SDC is trying to reach these populations in part by putting together materials for unsupported languages and working with local community leaders. In Circle Pines, reminders are being sent out with utility bills, door-to-door census workers are making extra efforts to reach rental communities, and schools and faith groups are being used to get the word out.
“We’re lucky that we have great elected officials and enough staff,” Antonen says. “We’re just trying to get the word out more than anything.”
—Sophia Koch, LTAP freelancer
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