Gravette gets census grant

GRAVETTE — Mallory Weaver, city communications director, announced the city received a $5,000 grant from the National League of Cities.

The grant is to be used for census outreach and efforts to increase census responses among those households traditionally undercounted or hard to count.

In Gravette, young children are at high risk for being undercounted and households without internet are considered hard to count. There are between 24% and 36% of households in the city which report having no internet or dial-up only. This makes the households hard to count, especially this year when the census has switched to internet response invitations as the primary mode of response.

“When you have a significant number of people with limited internet access, responding that way is a challenge,” Weaver said. “We plan to use the grant money for a few initiatives aimed at increasing the response for reporting of young children and those with limited internet access,” she continued.

City officials spoke with the Gravette School District about ways they can work together to reach families in the district who have young children. They decided to distribute census fliers and coloring sheets in the snack packs provided to children, and teachers are sending out email to their classes and posting in the classroom apps.

They will begin posting reminders to Facebook. Their goal is to inform people who don’t have internet they can still respond by phone.

Information will be sent out in the mail and in the monthly water bills encouraging residents to complete the census form. They can complete the census form even if they haven’t received a census response invitation in the mail by completing online or by phone. Responding is quick and easy and helps determine where more than $675 billion is distributed.

The city will also purchase a few Apple iPad and laptop kiosks the public can use to respond. When it first applied for the grant plans were to put the kiosks at City Hall, the library and the post office. However, since the covid-19 pandemic has struck, they have decided to purchase a few banners and yard signs that say, “Respond to the census here,” and place a staffed tent and kiosk at various locations around town.

Local employers will also be contacted to set up dates for stationing a kiosk at their businesses for use by employees.

Weaver stresses the importance of people knowing why their response is so important. Many types of services rely on the census numbers for the distribution of money. It’s important to get out the message, she said, all children should be counted in the census, newborn babies, young children, nieces or nephews who might be living with you and anyone who stays at your home most of the time, even if unrelated.

According to the Arkansas State Data Center, every uncounted Arkansan means a loss of about $3,000 each year for the next 10 years.

“Prior to receipt of the grant, we have made responding to the census a top priority on our social media pages and we are excited to expand the conversation and include more of our community,” Weaver said. “Participating in the 2020 Census is a civic duty and good for your community.”

In the next few months, census workers will begin going door-to-door to visit those who haven’t yet responded to the 2020 census. Susan Holland may be reached by email at sholland@nwadg.com.