South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Will you participate in the 2020 US Census?
Millions of dollars are at stake for South Florida
Floridians will begin receiving the once-a-decade U.S. Census survey in just over a month. Yet once again, tens of thousands of people won’t respond — and for each of them, the state will lose money.
In 2010, when the last constitutionally mandated Census was taken, every person who failed to fill out the survey cost Florida $1,445 in vital federal funding in 2015 alone, according to George Washington University.
It adds up to billions of dollars and two potential new seats in Congress at stake, and communities throughout the state are putting a focus on making sure everyone is counted.
Nowhere is it more important than in South Florida, which has communities with the lowest response rates in the state, according to U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by
the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
The neighborhoods most in need of the federal dollars are often the ones with the lowest Census participation: Those with high poverty rates, more young children, high percentages of renters and minority communities.
The Census Bureau assigns communities — technically Census tracts — a “low response score” based on demographics and previous mail-return rates. Those neighborhoods become the focus of early outreach and education efforts.
Of the places with the worst scores — where a quarter or more of households are not expected to respond — almost half are in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties.
In 2010, about 80% of Florida households mailed back the the survey, according to the City University of New York’s Center for Urban Research.
After census-takers went door-to-door, almost 1.4 million people — or 7.5% the population at the time — were still omitted from the count, Census estimates show.
The Urban Institute predicts young children and black and Hispanic residents are most at-risk for getting passed up this time around.
Darby Delsalle, a member of the Broward County Complete County Committee, has been working since November 2018 toward minimizing how the number of people who will not get counted.
“We’re trying to overcome many of the stigmas and fears or misinformation that may be facing the Census itself,” said Delsalle, who is also the planning and development manager for Broward County.
His committee is one of dozens throughout the state set up by local officials to educate residents about the Census and ensure an accurate count.
One concern is over a former proposal by the Trump Administration to add a question about a person’s citizenship status.
The Census is meant to be completed by both documented and undocumented individuals, and advocates worried that asking about citizenship status would deter people without legal residency from participating.
Although the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the proposal last year, some fears still linger. The 2020 Census will not ask about citizenship status.
And there are privacy concerns. In an age when data breaches have become common, some communities fear what the government will do with their responses.
The Census is prevented by law from releasing information that can identify respondents to anyone, including law enforcement, for 72 years. The law also says the data can’t be used in court.
That’s part of the pitch Delsalle hopes his team can successfully give Broward residents as they figure out how to to tailor their mes
sage to different communities. His committee tapped community and religious leaders to help lead the charge by specializing outreach to communities of color and faith-based groups.
“Really it comes down to us repeating the message over and over,” Delsalle said.
Nonprofits, local leaders mobilize outreach
The Census Bureau recently unveiled a $500 million ad campaign that will fund TV, radio, print and social media ads promoting participation.
But face-to-face outreach takes heaps of cash and leaves a gap in resources, said Susan Racher, vice president and chief financial officer of the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation.
“The Complete Count committees bring in the leadership,” Racher said. “The leadership of the organizations goes back to the home office and realizes that they need funding. You can’t expect these grassroots, highly effective, highly trusted organizations to get the word out without any money.”
Cue Florida Counts Census 2020.
Last summer, Racher’s company teamed up with seven other nonprofits, under the umbrella of Florida Counts, to fund-raise outreach in Florida.
“We all came together deliberately because we realized that the state does not have an organized infrastructure for which to provide funding for outreach,” Racher said.
Until recently, Florida was one of a four states that had not set up a Complete Count Committee. Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a statewide committee on Jan. 7.
“Governor DeSantis understands that the census is a function of the federal government and it is incumbent upon the U.S. Census Bureau to ensure that all communities are properly counted,” the governor’s office said in an emailed statement. “The 2020 Florida Complete Count Committee will serve in a coordinating role to facilitate the Census Bureau’s outreach efforts should they need assistance in accessing any hard-tocount communities.”
So far, the committee has not pledged any money or specific plans to bolster outreach efforts.
“Although we cannot predict what the U.S. Census Bureau may ask of the committee, if anything, we are not anticipating any major costs to the committee’s function,” the statement from DeSantis’s office said.
Racher said she has not heard from the state committee on how they will help existing efforts, either, but noted officials should focus on funding groups already on the ground.
Florida Counts aims to raise $2 million, which Racher says will fund local groups who pitch a plan to promote the Census.
Florida Counts has raised just over $1 million as of Jan. 17. Of that, $300,000 has gone to fund Census work for groups like the Girls Scouts, local chapters of the civil rights group the Urban Institute and the faith-based social justice organization Faith In Florida.
More to be done
In mid-March, households receive an invitation in the mail to fill out the survey online, by phone or by mail.
For every person who doesn’t respond, Florida will lose funding for some of its largest federal programs including highway construction, Medicare, Section 8 and school-lunch assistance.
It won’t be only schools and social services that get undermined. Homeowners and businesses risk losing federal money for tax credits and economic development.
“It’s important because it involves funding for services for residents of all stripes and our representation,” Delsalle said. “Everybody has a stake in this process, and for that it is important that everybody be counted.”