Imagine receiving a document worth $1,000 in the mail, the same form every resident of the United States also receives. All you have to do to (directly or indirectly) benefit from this four-figure amount of money is to fill it out, and send it back to whence it came. You would imagine every person in Hamilton County would make it a top priority to complete this simple task. Reality is the opposite though.
Tyler Yount and Brooke Satterfield, director of special projects and the project coordinator for Mayor Andy Berke’s office respectively, spoke to the City Council about how Hamilton County is looking to change that negative trend. According to Mr. Yount, Hamilton County had some of the lowest census participation in the state during the 2010 census, and many groups remain uncounted or grossly under-represented.
According to the speaker, the census determines a variety of things for the city. Census data determines the number of representatives in legislature, for instance. And on a more local level, this information can influence how much funding the city receives from the federal and state governments. According to Mr. Yount, for each person not counted, Chattanooga loses around $1,000 that could be used for items such as public works, education, and other infrastructure.
Ms. Satterfield listed some of the under-represented communities, and possible reasons for them not filling out the census. Sometimes, the reason can be as innocent as people mistakenly throwing away an envelope which looks like “junk mail.” However, sometimes the reasons can be more serious.
For instance, some hard-to-count populations in Chattanooga are so because of a language barrier, while others live in hotels or temporary places, while yet others are hard to contact due to being homeless. And some are worried about their immigration status being in jeopardy if they fill out the census. Mr. Yount debunked this belief, saying it was illegal for any census worker to release any information about a particular individual on the census.
The pair then moved on to showing the council their plan to remedy this issue. The newly formed Complete Count Committee exists to “motivate people to take the census.” The CCC hopes to do so through grassroots movements and organizations.
“They know their community, establishing a ‘neighbor informing neighbor’ info pathway,” said Mr. Satterfield of the local groups charged with making sure residents fill out the census. Rather than having a government employee tell them what to do, that push may come from their local pastor they see every Sunday.
The CCC will have members from all sections of the community, including religious leaders, non-profits like United Way and La Paz, utilities such as EPB, foundations, and educational institutions such as Chattanooga State and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The CCC’s plan is split into three sections or movements. Starting in 2018 until the beginning of this year, the organization was focused on educating citizens about the census. And then from April until the beginning of 2020, the CCC will look to promote awareness of the census. And from February 2020 until June 2020, the CCC will help people fill out their censuses.
Councilwoman Carol Berz asked if they could send her information about this initiative, so she could send a “blast email” about the CCC to her constituents. Both speakers further encouraged the council members to promote and speak about the census with their constituents.