State’s being counted, but work remains

Between a pandemic and widespread protests, 2020 is a challenging year to conduct a national census. Nevertheless, it seems Floridians are standing up to be counted at a relatively good rate. That includes the sometimes elusive but critical Hispanic population, which has boomed since the last census 10 years ago.

Florida’s response rate through June 1 was 58%, which ranked 32nd of all states. Not great. But the state is usually home to some of the most undercounted places on the U.S. map.

Count Central Florida among that group.

Almost 11% of Orange County’s population wasn’t counted in the 2010 Census, one of the highest rates in the nation. That added up to 124,000 people and about $1.8 billion in lost funding.

Four other Florida counties were among the top 20 nationwide in omissions. Against that backdrop, Central Florida is doing better than most expected.

Orange County is 28th out of the state’s 67 counties with a 57.4% response rate. Osceola is No. 43 (51.3%), Lake County is No. 22 (59.2%) and Seminole is No. 3 (66.5%).

All those numbers and percentage signs can make your eyes glaze over fast, but each additional digit means big dollars in federal funding. That money will be needed now more than ever.

The coronavirus shutdown exposed Orlando’s economic overdependence on tourism. Hotel occupancy rates plummeted to 14%. Air passenger traffic dropped by 97%.

A UCF study projected about 110,000 jobs were at least temporarily lost in the hospitality and tourism industry, along with 100,000 in other industries.

The census determines where trillions of dollars will go the next 10 years. That’s money for infrastructure, education, health care, children’s programs, arts and other needs. Much of it would be tailored to the specific needs of individual communities hit hard by the coronavirus shutdown.

“We only get one shot at this,” said Jackie Colon, Southeast Regional Director at NALEO Education Fund, one of the organizations promoting the census in the Hispanic community.

Tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans moved to Central Florida after Hurricane Maria in 2017. Thousands of Venezuelans and Nicaraguans have immigrated here to escape political and economic turmoil.

Minorities and people with low English skills traditionally have lower participation rates. They also lean Democratic, which turned census preparation into a political football.

“This should not be a partisan issue,” Colon said. “It’s about bringing dollars to our community.”

She’s right. The census shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but there’s always politics in play.

One way to increase participation is through Complete Count Committees, which target hard-to-reach communities. Florida was one of only five states that didn’t have a statewide committee entering 2020.

Gov. Ron DeSantis finally authorized one in January. Reaching the Latino population had already been hampered by the Trump Administration’s ill-fated attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

“That made it even more challenging,” Colon said. “I spent the past year letting folks know the citizenship question is no longer on the survey form.”

Then came coronavirus. Census field offices shut down for six weeks, and private outreach programs also slowed operations.

“We’ve had thousands and thousands of people who’ve lost jobs. What we did was focus on those needs,” Colon said. “Now that the dust has settled a little bit, we’re continuing to push the census.”

One thing Hispanic leaders have pushed is letting the government know how many Hispanics are really out there. The census form does not make that easy.

One question asks what country the respondent is originally from. The next asks their race.

The problem is the only races listed are white, black or African-American, American-Indian or Alaska native, Asian or “some other race.”

Hispanics are estimated to make up 18.3% of the U.S. population. There was a push to expand the race question so it would address the many ethnicities that make up “Hispanic,” but the census dropped that idea.

With no obvious choice, 97% of his

Hispanics checked “some other race” in 2010. That skews where federal aid goes, and it’s not just Hispanics who suffer. The Urban Institute estimates between 1.1 million and 1.7 million African-Americans will be missed in 2020.

The government must do a better job resolving the undercounting issues before the next census. But for now, we must do the counting with the census we have.

Despite all the problems of 2020, the national response rate on June 1 reached its target of 60.5%, and Florida’s rate wasn’t far behind.

“The groundwork we did paid off,” Colon said.

Now it’s time to reach the hardest-tocount segment. In August, census workers will start visiting households that haven’t responded.

That phase was initially supposed to begin in May, but coronavirus forced Congress to change the schedule. The final count deadline has been extended from July 31 to Oct. 31. This week’s midway report was reason to grin, but there’s plenty of work left to do. We only get one shot.

Considering the shape Central Florida’s economy is in, we can’t afford to blow it.