Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Fayetteville holds first drive-in event to boost census
FAYETTEVILLE — A drive-in census roundup was offered Saturday at the Spring Street Parking Deck to help encourage community participation in the 2020 Census. “When we originally made our strategy to promote the census, we planned to attend several community events throughout the summer and to hold census ‘clinics’ in city facilities,” said Linda DeBerry, Fayetteville communications program manager. “The covid-19 pandemic put a monkey wrench in that plan, however, so we began looking for ways to reach out.”
It’s vitally important that Fayetteville’s approximately 87,590 residents participate in the census, she said.
“The U.S. government uses census data to determine how it divvies up more than $600 billion in federal funding each year for programs like highway construction, after-school programs and school lunch programs, Medicare, emergency services, Pell Grants and much more,” DeBerry said. “To get our share of money for services our community needs, we need to be sure we count every single person.”
Fayetteville’s census self-response rate is 64.3%, just above the national average of 64.2%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Arkansas’ current self-response rate is 58.6%.
Northeast Fayetteville residents are among the highest to self-report in the city with a rate of up to 79.8%, according to the bureau. South-central Fayetteville is the lowest at 45.9%.
It’s unclear why the rate in south-central Fayetteville is lower than the rest of the city, but DeBerry speculates it may be because of the large population of college students in the area, many of whom returned to their home communities before census reporting began.
“A lot of students think, ‘My parents will do it for me,’” she said, not realizing they have to fill out the information themselves if they’ve been recorded as a resident at an address since April 1.
The city is also working with the University of Arkansas to ensure returning students who were living off campus during the spring semester before the pandemic shut down in-person classes are counted, she said.
Corinne Spicer, 45, of Fayetteville said she completed her census reporting to make sure lawmakers better know how to meet the needs of the public.
Linda Pullen, 68, of Fayetteville said she went online at home to complete her census reporting as soon as she was notified to do so through the mail.
“It helps ensure equity in voting and that everybody is counted, and that’s really important to me,” she said, adding it took just a few minutes to complete the census. “It was so easy,” she said.
Volunteers with the League of Women Voters were also present at the drive-in event and at the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market Saturday to help promote voter registration.
The league encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues and influences public policy through education and advocacy, according to the nonprofit’s website.
Glenda Patterson, league board member, said registering people to vote at the census event created an opportunity the league wanted to take advantage of.
“Making it easy makes more sense,” said Amy Peeples, league volunteer, who noted the league was founded 100 years ago this week.
Saturday’s drive-in census event was modestly attended, DeBerry said, adding the city may hold similar events in other areas of the city to encourage census participation in the future.
“This allows us to maintain social distancing and also make completing the census a quick and simple errand you can do in between other things you may be out and about for,” she said. “We will be observing all health and sanitation precautions, including wearing masks and gloves and cleaning the equipment after each use.”
The 2020 Census ends Sept. 30, according to the bureau.