On this episode of Municipal Equation. This is not really something that we do to benefit the federal government. It's something that we do to benefit our own communities. Over $675,000,000,000

innovative, and we're doing things differently in the census than we had done before. This is really how we understand understand who is in your city, who's in your region, who's in your county, who's in your state. It's one of the biggest federal projects going, and it affects all of us. What do we need to know about the 2020 census? It's different from any in the past. How private is the information being collected? What's it used for? And how can we be sure it's accurate? My name is Ben Brown, and this is Municipal Equation, a podcast about cities and towns in the face of change from the North Carolina League with municipalities, Episode 60. In 1790, the young U. S. Government went out and took its first national headcount. Who have we got living in The U. S? Who's here? Let's go door to door and find out. A bunch of marshals and their assistants went out with a plan to visit every free household in the country, tally up the populations, and report back to the president, who at the time was George Washington. So they did it. They got this enormous project done and reported back, all at a cost of $44,377.28. But when Washington and Thomas Jefferson and other folks looked at the results, counting right around 3,900,000 people across the 13 states and the districts and territories that would later become states, when Washington and Jefferson saw that population tally of less than 4,000,000 people, they were reportedly a little doubtful. They figured it just had to be an undercount, even though there were financial penalties and other things in place to make sure everybody took part properly. But either of these marshals didn't get all the households, or couldn't access a number of them, or ran into land owners who told the marshals to get lost, or one source actually pointed out that people thought they'd be taxed based on the number of people in their households. So maybe they just lied to the marshals, told them, you know, three people were living there, in their home, when it might have been ten in reality. Who knows, but it's an enduring challenge trying to get a complete and accurate picture of who we have here in The U. S. How this country is growing and changing and what it might mean. Just to point it out, the questions on the 1790 census were totally different than what we would ask today. Back then, the census focused mostly on white people, and then slaves as their own category. A breakout tally of the number of free white males over the age of 16 was to give an idea of what The U. S. Might amount to in terms of military and workforce, for example. But anyway, that seventeen ninety head count, that was the very first time The U. S. Conducted what's supposed to be an all out census. And we do these things every ten years, again, with a pretty different approach these days. You know, for one, we've since established the U. S. Census Bureau, which carries out the work now, as opposed to the Marshalls of the eighteenth century. The kinds of questions asked in the census have also changed to better reflect the times and needs. We've also changed the way we ask these questions and gather info. Really, one might call it one of the biggest and most impactful federal government projects going, affecting the spending of $675,000,000,000 federal dollars per year. And as it's also a tool for business decisions, local economic development, the situating of congressional and state legislative seats, health programs, roads, schools, emergency response planning. Kind of everything, right down to our own neighborhoods. So let's get to it and talk about what's different about the next census coming down. That'll be in 2020, which sounds so futuristic and is just a year away. But let's dig in and talk about what makes this such a big deal. The kind of work that goes into it. What people might feel kind of weird about with the census. And, yes, why it impacts us so much. Again, right down to our own neighborhoods. Just to set out some context, for how much work goes into a decennial Census and how big of a project it is, let's, let's just go back in time and say we've just completed the 2010 census. When does work begin on the next Right. Decennial census or the 2020 in this case? Well, in fact, I mean, in some ways, work was already underway as we completed the 2010 census. This is Burton Reist. He's the chief of decennial communications and stakeholder relations in the decennial programs directorate at the US Census Bureau. We start planning the census. We started planning the census in '20

of the we're, you know, nearing completion of the 2018 end to end census test, and that's gone very well. So that means it takes the full decade to plan out, test, and work out all the kinks with a nationwide census. So the the 2018 test, is that with an actual live community?

So the Census Bureau did trial runs for 2020 with actual US communities, which allowed them to catch the bugs and adjust operations for the best possible outcome. You know, the band practices before they play live. And it's huge this time around because of a pretty important update and maybe one we've been waiting for. This will be the first census in which the majority of Americans are asked to complete

online. This is Sunshine Hilligus, a professor of political science and public policy at Duke University. She follows census issues closely and even has a book out about the 2000 census. As a survey methodologist,

So it's this balance between modern expectations and government efficiency and our sensitivity with privacy and confidentiality, which does have historical precedent when it comes to participation in the census.

Burton Reist with the Census Bureau knows that's a concern, that data theft and digital security and so on are enormous topics right now. And so they're not taking it lightly. What do you say to people who are maybe nervous about the expansion of digital technology and Internet usage when it comes to, you know, the census and the kind of information that people are being asked to give? Sure. I mean, we we are working very closely with other federal agencies including,

In addition to Internet response, we can take part in the census via telephone along with the classic paper format amounting to three ways to respond in 2020 to the census. Not just in English either. The bureau is ready to accept responses in 12 other languages. But before we go any further, let's look at the actual questions they're planning to ask us next year. For one, age and date of birth. They ask this to, of course, get a picture of age diversity and what characteristics may go along with a certain age. They've asked this question since 1790. Other questions, which I'll read pretty much verbatim. Is this person of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin? What is this person's race? How is this person related to person one? And that's a question to map out how I'm related to the other person in my household. What is this person's sex? Is this house, apartment, or mobile home owned by you, rented, or occupied without payment? And then we have operational questions like, how many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on 04/01/2020? By the way, April 1 is census day. Were there any additional people staying here on 04/01/2020 that you did not include in the last question? What is your telephone number? And then it asks you to provide info for each person living in the residence, First name, last name, and middle initial. And whether that person usually lives or stays somewhere else. So that's almost all of the questions being asked in 2020. But there's one more. And it deserves some individual attention because it stirred up controversy and according to a lot of people, could undermine the efforts to get as many people participating as possible. Is this person a citizen of The United States? This question added at the authority of US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, And I should note that the Census Bureau is under the Department of Commerce. So this question came about via the Commerce Secretary and it's been controversial because of the perception. Now whether it might feel intimidating or threatening enough to where people might duck the 2020 Census altogether, just to avoid it. Multiple lawsuits have come about to get this question off the 2020 census. It's important to point out that this question is not new in the scope of census data gathering. It's been on the American Community Survey, which is the interim ongoing annual survey sent out to a limited number of households about who we are in The US. It's a very involved survey, lots of questions, and it's a census activity. But insiders are saying that if you put it on the decennial census, which is much fewer questions, then the citizenship question has a much higher profile and becomes a bit more intimidating. That's according to observers. And one person who's actually been part of the court proceedings to weigh in on whether this question is a good or bad idea is Sunshine Hilligus.

a a town you know, we'll we'll just make up a town that has a a population a substantial population that may have a a a fear associated with that question. What are the implications for that town just in terms of, representation in the the headcount results?

There's so much going on with this that this entire episode could have been about the citizenship question. But I will say that the Census Bureau, taking all this into account, did warn about the potential effects of this question being added. And this is all still being sorted out. But in covering this question here, we got to learn some of what the census means to communities in terms of access to funding, and why it's so important for everyone to participate. To paint a scenario, I asked this question to Brian Egan of the National League of Cities. So let's just say town X has mediocre participation in the census. And then town Y, which has the same population level and similar demographics, They have really, really good participation.

What does this mean for these towns between them? Does does town y benefit over town x and and how so? You know, there are real implications for an accurate count in the city is and, you know, on the flip side, there are real implications if a city, produces an inaccurate count. They're kind of those zero sum arguments, you know, where census numbers, they feed into both redistricting at the federal level, you know, house congressional seats, state representation seats, state districts, state house districts, but also as well as, you know, how your local wards will be redrawn in 2021, 2022, etcetera. There's also the real big one that the one that city leaders are probably most concerned about and that's the the formulaic grants for federal and state funding. You know, these census numbers are kind of the inputs. I should say census and American Community Survey numbers, but they're kind of inextricably tied together. These are really the main inputs for a lot of these formulaic grants, and they determine how much money your state, your city, or your county receive for things like transportation and infrastructure grants, community development block grants, or CDBG, as well as entitlement, Medicare or Medicaid. There's a lot of research out there that tries to kinda quantify what an undercount means, in terms of revenue for a city, a state, or a county. And, you know, it it really does have implications for how much money the city does receive.

Egan said it could certainly be the case that the city with greater participation

gets a better share than the city that doesn't participate so well. But really it's in the interest that not only your city get counted well, but that your neighboring cities get counted, that your region gets counted, that your state and that your country gets counted accurately. This is really how we understand who is in your city, who's in your region, who's in your county, who's in your state, and it feeds a lot of things that aren't really zero sum. These numbers are used by city leaders to to plan, infrastructure, education needs, public health issues. It's also how third parties conduct research on your community, and it's pivotal for economic development. You know, if you have a a retailer looking to locate in your area, they're not just looking at your population, they're looking at the region's population. So while there are some of those arguments that are more zero sum, they're also really just general arguments that every city should want, that make every city wanna get an accurate count.

So the more completely we're counted, the more we bring our tax dollars back to serve our communities, And that's key.

This is Bob Coates, and he's gonna help localize this just using my home state of North Carolina. Bob works at the State Office of Budget and Management, and he coordinates the NC State Data Center Network, which is a partnership with the Census Bureau.

So, the estimates are showing as of last year, about $1,623 per person per year in federal funds come back to North Carolina based on census counts in some way, shape, or form. So we definitely wanna make sure everyone's counted to bring those tax dollars back to serve our needs. And that's just federal dollars. The Census Bureau is working right now. They recognize this is a big federal program. And that's a scary thing to a lot of people, understandably so. But I think the thing to remember is this is not really something that we do to benefit the federal government. It's something that we do to benefit our own communities. You get counted in the census because it helps North Carolina and our future. It helps your home county. It helps your hometown. It helps your neighborhood get the funding and planning data that you need for your future. So, that's why you do it. The Census Bureau is working. They have folks in the field right now called partnership specialists that are meeting with local governments, mayors, county commissioners, even the governor, to encourage them to form what they're calling complete count committees. Or CCCs.

And really what that is is just cities, county, states. They can be formed at multiple levels of government. Again, redundancy is not a problem. But for a city, you know, the city knows where it's hard to count populations are, where certain neighborhoods that may be more anxious around filling out this form or maybe harder to count because of address discrepancies or, you know, atypical or untraditional kind of living arrangements, housing, or highly mobile populations. The cities know that best, and the cities can get people together, can get principals, member of the clergy members of the clergy, other local leaders, business leaders. They can get them in a room and they can kinda brainstorm where these hard to count areas are and they can share it with the Census Bureau. And that goes a long way in helping the Census Bureau plan for, what's known as nonresponse follow-up, counting the people who don't self report.

And so it's increasingly clear here that although the census is a federal activity, it's important for local government leaders to take initiative in connecting with their people and making sure everyone knows why it's important to take part. Here's Alex Jones, also with the National League of Cities. Every different community that's hard to count is hard to count for a different reason. And the way

And I I have to say, unfortunately, for us in the past couple of, weeks and months here with the recovery from the hurricane, it's been a very powerful tool to say when the storm came through, looking at the last census numbers and applying some modeling to them, we can say, well, this many people were in the path of the storm. There were this many seniors in the path of the storm that may have mobility issues. There may have been this many people in the path of the storm that didn't speak English well, so we need to provide assistance in these categories. So census data does an awful lot of powerful work in times of need. So hopefully, we won't get any more storms like Michael and Florence that come through. But, when they do come through, it's it's very, very valuable to have census data there to help out.

So, let's just say I'm a mayor or a city manager or a budget manager for a local government, city, county. And I'm listening to this discussion, and I I'm kinda wondering what's what's the first most actionable thing I can do in the interest of my community when it comes to a complete count or or close enough to it. So I think engaging early, letting folks know what's coming and letting them know that there's a local importance and a local contact for this. So if you're a mayor or a planner,

you can take advantage of resources and you don't necessarily have to spend a whole lot of money on your end. So if you're sending out water bills or utility bills locally, if that's a mailing that you're doing, can you maybe put a flyer in the mailer saying, Hey, the census is coming up and this means something to our town or our county. And here's why. It does bring dollars back to our community. Did you know that your information is confidential for seventy two years? It can't be shared with anyone, not law enforcement, not the courts, not anyone. So it's just those little things that start getting the information out there early and then give your local folks time to process it, maybe ask some questions. Also, take advantage of other opportunities that may be going on locally. If there's a usual festival, carnivals, fair that happens in your community, that's a good opportunity to just say, Hey, by the way, thank you folks for being out here for celebrating who we are as a community. Another way that you can do that is take ten minutes to fill out your census questionnaire when it comes. If you feel like that's not something that you can do, get in touch with the state complete count committee. There might be folks that can help you out there. If not, you can certainly get in touch with the partnership staff from the U. S. Census Bureau. There are going to be folks and materials there that they'll provide to you. But I think the big thing is just engaging with folks early, letting them know that this is something that's been going on in The United States since 1790. This is not the first census. And it's very important to how we function as a community and it's very important to our future. And then just have those conversations. If, if there are questions that that you feel locally you can't, you can't handle, just feel free to pick up the phone call, contact me, or anyone, at the state level that are here to help.

Back to Burton Ryst at the Census Bureau. So when specifically are people going to be contacted about participation?

Knowing that not everybody's gonna respond during that initial run, another phase will follow in May 2020, when the Census Bureau dispatches employees across the country, knocking on doors, hitting the streets to get every last person they can. Burton said the Census Bureau will do everything it can to hire people who live in those neighborhoods. People who are already familiar faces to do the door knocking and interview work. Meanwhile, Census folks will be monitoring local news outlets across the country for signs of trouble so they can pounce on any irregularities with the door to door piece and really anything else that comes with the census. The door knocking phase is set to run until July 2020. Then, the bureau processes the data with a deadline to produce the head counts for congressional apportionment by the 2020. That's by law. There's so much information available from the Census Bureau to answer the bazillion questions we didn't cover here on this episode. I'll throw some links in the show notes to this episode at municipalequation.libsyn.com. Or just go to census.gov/2020census and it's right in front of you. The National League of Cities has plenty of info as well, which I'll also link to in addition to the book about the 2000 census by Sunshine Hilligus, titled The Hard Count, The Social and Political Challenges of the 2000 Census. Thanks for listening and tell me what big questions I didn't cover here. What do you still wanna know about the 2020 Census? Bbrown@nclm.org is my email. Share this episode with anybody you think needs to hear it. Local officials, residents, anybody. You can find it at nclm.org/municipalequation along with all the past episodes. NCLM stands for North Carolina League of Municipalities, which makes this podcast possible. My name is Ben Brown, and I'll talk to you soon. Again, bbrown@nclm.org or at muni equation on Twitter if you wanna talk in the meantime. I'll be in touch. Thanks again for listening. This has Ben.