NEW HANOVER COUNTY — It’s almost time for the once-a-decade counting of residents in the U.S. — better known as the census. Both Wilmington and New Hanover County have created a committee to help improve the numbers and accuracy of the census locally with a goal of 80% of the population responding to the survey.
The census is a federally mandated program but local governments do play their own role in the process.
“Locally, our efforts are mostly on engagement, and on the promotion of the census, and that is where we will ask for little bits of help from local government partners,” Tim Buckland, intergovernmental affairs coordinator for New Hanover County said in a presentation to Carolina Beach’s Town Council.
Despite the fact the census does not officially kick off until 2020, preparations for the count are already underway and the county, along with the City of Wilmington, has formed an ad hoc committee to help ensure a ‘complete count.’
“The county has partnered with the city of Wilmington to assist the U.S. Census Bureau with outreach and communication about the Census to our community. To that end, an 18-person Complete Count Committee, co-chaired by Board of Commissioners Chairman Jonathan Barfield Jr. and Mayor Bill Saffo, has been formed to guide local efforts to ensure a complete count. The committee is composed of leaders from government, education, the business community, faith-based organizations, and other community advocacy groups,” Buckland said.
“Out of that committee, five subcommittees focused on specific areas of the community were formed with the overarching goal to engage trusted voices in the community who can help ensure each person living in New Hanover County is counted. Further, the county is exploring ways to make taking the Census easier for our customers,” he continued.
The committee began meeting in September and its purpose is to conduct outreach and promote participation in the census — the committee’s goal is to hit 80% participation in the census in 2020.
“The response rates for New Hanover County were 66 percent in 2000 and 77 percent in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While the Census Bureau’s goal is 80%, the county and city hope to see a higher response rate of at least 85 percent of the county’s estimated population,” Buckland said.
So how does it all get counted? When the census started it consisted of little more than individuals going door-to-door physically counting the number of people living there. Thanks to technology, the process is much less labor-intensive and census data can be collected online.
“This year the major push of the U.S. Census Bureau is to get people to fill out their forms online. It’s faster, it’s easier, you don’t have to mail anything in,” Buckland said.
Of course, those who want to mail away their census data still have that option to do so or residents can even call in their answers.
Implications
But why does the government spend billions on the census every 10 years and what does the data mean for residents locally?
Well, first of all, the census is required by law and is actually laid out in the U.S. Consitution in Article 1, Section 2. But what does that actually mean? Essentially, the Census first and foremost determines the number of representatives each state gets in Congress.
“There are numerous reasons to do it [fill out the census]. It looks like North Carolina if our estimations are correct, will get not just a 14th member of Congress but a 15th. So if every person is counted we might be able to get two more members of Congress which gives us more representation and more power at the federal level,” Buckland said.
But it’s more than just federal representation, state-level redistricting is also a product of the census.
“The Census is the basis for redistricting. While its impact on the makeup of the U.S. House of Representatives gets the most attention, Census data is also applied for redistricting for the state House and Senate. An accurate count ensures accurate representation at the state and federal level. Census data is also used as the basis for distributing more than $675 billion per year in federal aid, according to the Census Bureau,” Buckland said.
Dates to keep in mind
The county’s committee has a number of upcoming meetings. In January the group will begin its outreach efforts to get residents committed to taking the census, Buckland said.
In March, residents will be allowed to start answering census questions and sending off their responses online; Census Day is actually on April 1 though.
For the amount of work that goes into collecting the census data, the window to actually answer the survey is only open for about a week, which is why the efforts to bring awareness to it are starting so early.
Starting in May and then into the fall of 2020 the U.S. Census Bureau will conduct followups with what they call ‘non-respondents’ which is where census works actually go door-to-door to collect data that had not been received.
For most people with internet access answering the census is as easy as spending some time on their smartphone or computer, but what about accounting for those without homes?
Wilmington and the county have their share of transient and homeless residents who are still compelled to answer the census’ questions — but getting them to do so is a bit more complicated.
“The county has already made some commitments toward the census. Our libraries will be open with actual banks of computers dedicated to the census. Hopefully, we’ll get a good response, we are coordinating with Wave Transit to bring people from homeless shelters and camps to the library to take the census,” Buckland said.
The county is also taking a proactive approach to reach members of immigrant communities to ensure all residents, regardless of citizenship, are included in the count. The U.S. Census Bureau announced earlier this year it would not include a citizenship question on the census after a Supreme Court ruling.
New Hanover County is working on outreach to Latino and other minority communities in the region to provide accurate information on the census to help get the most accurate responses.
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