County, city make final push for 2020 U.S. census responses
The deadline to respond to the 2020 census is just over six weeks away, and elected officials, census workers and community organizations are making their final push to get everyone counted as some areas in Allegheny County and the city of Pittsburgh lag behind.
As of Monday, the national selfresponse rate was 63.3%, and in Pennsylvania, 66.6%. Allegheny County pulled ahead of both at 69%, while Pittsburgh trailed at 59.6%. However, several census tracts in the city’s neighborhoods and in the county’s Mon Valley area are lingering in the 30% to 50% range.
“We still have quite a few communities that are in need of improvement,” said Sheila Beasley, Pittsburgh partnership specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau. “We’re looking at them as hot areas . ... We’re really targeting efforts to make sure we’re having as much outreach and last pull efforts.”
The Trump administration announced Aug. 3 that the census data collection deadline was moved to Sept. 30, contradicting the administration’s earlier support for extending the data collection time amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week, census takers started going door-to-door, and mobile questionnaire teams hit the ground in Allegheny County, according to bureau officials. One of their first stops was Wednesday at a food distribution event in Etna, where a mobile team set up a table to assist people in completing their census. They also stopped at the farmers market in Carnegie on Sunday and will head to the Soko Community Market in the Hill District on Saturday.
“Our strategy right now is completely driven by where we’re seeing a low response,” said Jessica Mooney, manager of special projects in the county executive’s office. Those areas will likely include Braddock, Clairton and McKeesport, among others, she said.
On Monday, the county, the city and its Complete Count Committee will announce a week of activities to kick off the final 45-day push to the deadline to complete the census. As the deadline gets closer, more activities and events will be announced.
Four small Mon Valley boroughs have gotten creative with their outreach plans after COVID-19 quashed their — and several other agencies’ — in-person plans this spring.
“We kind of made it a contest,” said Tammy Firda, president of the
Steel Rivers Council of Governments and longtime Lincoln council member, who organized with neighboring Liberty, Glassport and Port Vue.
Grant money will be divvied up in $2,500, $1,500, $1,000 and $500 amounts for the boroughs that have the highest response rates by Sept. 30. The money must be used for recreation, whether that be a park or community programming. Each borough received an initial $500 for outreach costs.
Ms. Firda’s organization was one of 11 groups mainly along the Route 51 corridor and lower Mon Valley to receive a portion of $66,000 in census outreach grants awarded by the Jefferson Regional Foundation, a key player in the Complete Count Committee.
“In particular we had concerns [that] — in addition to all the groups that have been identified by the Census Bureau, [including] seniors, people of color and low-income people — we have a significant portion of refugees and immigrants in our area . ... In fact, for example, the Bhutanese community, in particular,” said Mary Phan-Gruber, the Jefferson Regional Foundation’s executive director, about the refugee community that settled in the Brentwood and Whitehall areas over the past decade. “That’s been very challenging because of mixed messages” regarding personal information, including citizenship status.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling blocking a citizenship question from appearing on the 2020 U.S. census.
During the next six weeks Ms. Firda and others will “be on Facebook more than anything to try to push it, like, ‘C’mon, Liberty. C’mon, Lincoln. Let’s see who’s in first place. C’mon, Glassport.
C’mon, Port Vue!’”
The once-every-10-years count impacts congressional district boundaries and more than a trillion dollars in annual federal aid to hundreds of programs and for state and local governments, not to mention roads and bridges, public transportation, education, food assistance like SNAP and WIC, and other health and human service programs.
“Those tax dollars we pay into the government every year come back to us down through that [census data],” Ms. Firda said. “I just really wish people could understand that part of it.”
Other organizations are finishing up spending grant money administered by the Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania, another grantmaking partner of the Complete Count Committee.
Brookline Together, which received $2,500, plans to park a food truck on Brookline Boulevard and sponsor meals to be served along with census literature. They also will deliver boxed meals and thank you letters to senior high-rises in the community where individuals have already completed their census forms.
“We took a look at which of those [hard-to-count] groups are in Brookline, and those are immigrants, seniors and people with disabilities,” said Allyn Bove, the organization’s secretary.
But while the self-response rate in parts of Brookline is reaching as high as 75%, some areas, including census tracts on the North Side and in the Hill District, Homewood, Glen Hazel, Hazelwood, Oakland, Beltzhoover, Allentown and Sheraden, are as low as in the 30% to 40% range. One, Terrace Village, is as low as 18.8%.
The mayor’s office plans to target 32 neighborhoods in the coming weeks.
“The amount of time that is being given now nationally is being shortened, which will have an effect on the amount that will be reported. We can try to double up efforts, but there’s only so much resources,” Mayor Bill Peduto said Aug. 7. “This on top of the fact that our college students are not back and were gone before the census information was being sent out will have an adverse consequence on the reporting for the city of Pittsburgh for the 2020 year. That will have an effect not only on our representation in Congress but on the federal funds the city relies on.”
While the city and county will have their week of action, the Census Bureau is asking that any organizations that still need help reach out.
“It would be helpful if there are communities or organizations that would like to have the [mobile] team come out; they should give us a call,” Ms. Beasley said. She can be reached at sheila.r.beasley@2020census.gov or at 412973-7014.
And she had a message for individuals: “People should know that it’s not too late to respond. One way to not have an enumerator come to your home is to respond.”
If an enumerator does come, the person will be wearing Census Bureau identification, Ms. Beasley said.
“There will never be a question asked about Social Security numbers or for credit card information,” she said. “Census data is confidential, it is never reported to law enforcement or child services, and it will not interfere with stimulus money. We’re sworn to life for confidentiality under Title 13.”
Residents can respond via U.S. mail, online at census.gov or by calling 1-844-330-2020 where language interpreters and disability accommodations are available.