Tag Archives: 2020 Census

Both Wyoming, Kentwood already have higher 2020 Census response than overall 2010 results

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, , ,
U.S. Census is keeping track of how many people are filling out the 2020 Census online. (U.S. Census Bureau)

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

Since people are at home and have the time, the one thing that appears residents are doing is filling out the 2020 U.S. Census.

At least in the cities of Kentwood and Wyoming with the U.S. Census reporting through its interactive response rate map that both cities have already surpassed their 2010 U.S. Census overall response rate. As of May 18, 2020, the City of Kentwood is at 74.1 self-response rate. In 2010, its overall response rate was 73. The City of Wyoming’s 2020 self-response rate is 72.5, just slightly over its 2010 overall response rate of 72.4.

According to recent reports, about 59.5 percent of the U.S. households in the United States have self-responded, meaning that residents have either mailed, called in or gone online to answer the nine questions that center around who was living in the home on April 1, 2020. 

This is about 88 million households that have responded. For the 2010 census, it was about 74 percent mail in rate (the 2010 U.S. Census did not have an online component) with about 116.7 million households responding to the census. The total population report for the 2010 U.S. Census was 308.7 million of which about 300.8 million were living in homes and the remaining 8 million lived in group quarters such as school domentories, nursing homes, and military barracks. 

Michigan ranks fourth in self-response to the 2020 U.S. Census.

So where does Michigan stand?

Michigan ranks fourth with 66.2 percent or 3.2 million households responding. In the 2010 U.S. Census, the state had a total of 67.7 percent response. Despite having cities with some of the highest participation rates in the 2010 U.S. Census, Michigan had a population drop of about 54,000 going from 9.938 million in 2000 to about 9.883 million in 2010. 

Due to the population drop, Michigan lost a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, going from 15 to 14. According to state officials, the goal for the 2020 U.S. Census is for its population to be enough to maintain its current 14 U.S. House of Representative seats.

“The state has been growing, but not growing as quickly as Texas, Florida, or North Carolina,” said Michigan Statewide Census director Kerry Ebersole. “So we have the opportunity to maintain which we have in congress but it is unlikely we will pick up an additional seat.”

Keeping those seats are even more important as Michigan goes against other states for relief funding from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s important that Michigan voices are heard,” Ebersole said, “that we have a voice and representation at the federal level especially as policies are developed that may impact our state.”

And it is not just policies related to COVID-19 relief, but also for programs for the Great Lakes, Medicare, literacy, the elderly and city infrastructure such as the parks and roads.

As of May 18, 2020, the National response rate has been 59.5 percent.

It is all about the numbers

“The two things that the census influences are dollars and how many U.S. Representatives the state will have in Washington D.C.” said Kentwood Mayor Stephen Kepley in an interview about the U.S. Census before the statewide COVID-19 state of emergency order.

Funding dollars are largely determined by a municipality’s population and while looking at how the Michigan Department of Transportation determines funding, Kepley noted that 50,000 seemed to be a magic number that would increase a municipality’s funding for roads. The U.S. Census currently estimates that the City of Kentwood’s population is around 51,868 which means Kentwood needs to do a “good” job in getting residents to respond to the 2020 Census.

Which according to the 2020 U.S. Census Interactive Map, Kentwood residents have done quite well in self-responding. As of Monday, May 18, 2020, the City of Kentwood has had 74.1 percent self-response of which 65.7 have been online responses. Of course, there are still a number of factors in determining the overall funding any municipality will receive.

“If we do better in getting the word out and showing an increase, it could be that we are taking money away from another city that may not have done as well doing that,” Kepley said, adding if everyone does well then, it also will have an impact on the dollars Kentwood could receive.

But having residents fill out the U.S. Census is important, Kepley said as it impacts what the city can provide in city infrastructure such as roads and parks, low and moderate housing, and even attracting future businesses which use census information as a component to determining where to locate.

More numbers

Along with the City of Kentwood and the City of Wyoming. which has a self-response rate of 72.5 of which 63.5 were online (as of May 18, 2020), the overall Kent County self response rate has been above the U.S. average of 59.5 percent. As of May 18, 2020, it was at 73.3 percent total of self-reporting of which 64.1 percent were online. In 2010, the county had a total response rate of 73.6 percent.

Some other municipalities numbers as of May 18, 2020:

City of Grand Rapids: 65.6 percent of which 54.5 were online. In 2010, it had a response rate of 69.7.

City of Grandville: 81.1 percent of which 73.4 were online. In 2010, it had a response rate of 79.8.

Caledonia Township: 81 percent of which 73.6 were online. In 2010, it had a response rate of 81.2.

Byron Township: 79.9 percent of which 72.5 were online. In 2010, it had a response rate of 76.3

Still time to respond

Due to the COVID-19 and a majority of the nation placed on lockdown to help prevent the spread, the U.S. Census Bureau announced it has delayed the counts. U.S. lawmakers still need to sign off on the new schedule.

According to the U.S. Census website, residents will have until Oct. 31 to self-respond. Non-response follow-up with census fieldworkers going out will be Aug. 11 to Oct. 31. The U.S. Census Bureau is pushing back the 2020 U.S. Census report to the president from Dec. 31, 2020 to April 30, 2021 with the president delivering the counts to Congress within 14 days. States would receive numbers for redistricting by July 31, 2021 instead of April 1, 2021. 

2020 Census underway despite coronavirus

3-bottom, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, ,
A sample of what the 2020 Census Bureau invitation looks like. (Supplied by U.S. Census Bureau)

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joamne@wktv.org

Do you know what federally mandated program falls under the social distance guidelines and is something you can do while securely in your home?

Filling out the 2020 Census.

From between March 12 – 20, 140 million households across the country will receive their first invitation to participate in the census. Residents are to indicate all people living in the home on April 1.

“We are encouraging everyone to respond online as soon as you receive your invitation with the provided instructions to go online,” according to a recent statement from U.S. Census Bureau officials. 

The invitation will include the web address for the online questionnaire in English as well as where to respond online in 12 additional languages. It will also include phone numbers for English and the 12 additional languages. Telephone assistance is available seven days a week form 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Eastern Standard Time for those who prefer to respond by phone. Online and phone respond will be available through July 31.

The currently deadline for response is July 31, however according to the Census Bureau’s website, that date “can and will be adjusted if necessary as the situation evolves in order to achieve a complete and accurate count.”

Some households — in areas less likely to respond online — will receive a paper questionnaire in the first mailing; all households that have not responded online or by phone will receive a paper questionnaire between April 8 and April 16. The paper questionnaire includes a prepaid postage envelope to return it by mail. 

To abide by guidelines to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, the 2020 Census find operations will be suspended for two weeks until April 1. This in turn has delayed census takers going out for in-person nonresponse follow-up. That portion of the operation has been delayed to April 23. The mobile questionnaire assistance program also has been delay to April 13. 

All census workers will closely follow guidance from public health authorities when conducting the follow-up operations. If there is a need to delay or discontinue follow-up visits in a community, Census Bureau officials said they will adapt the operation to ensure a complete and accurate count.

“We designed our 2020 operations precisely so we could offer multiple ways to respond,” said Charmine Yates, media specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau. For instance, Yates said, the operation which counts people in nursing homes, college dorms, prisons, and other institutional living facilities includes several ways to respond such as via eResponse, paper listing or self-enumeration by the facility. 

For college students, per the Census Bureau’s residence criteria, in most cases students living away from home at school should be counted at school, even if they are temporarily elsewhere due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For service providers, such as those that provide services to the homeless, the Census Bureau is contacting them to determine if the provider will be open March 30 and April 1 and whether the provider would be able to provide a paper listing of census response data for each person served or staying at the facility instead. 

“In short, where a community, facility or service organization makes a change that would affect any field operation, we will adapt to make sure we are getting the same population counted another way,” Yates said.

As of Wednesday, the Census Bureau reported that more than 11 million households have responded by filling out the 2020 Census. 

Low unemployment has U.S. Census looking for applicants

3-bottom, Citizen Journalism, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, ,
The U.S. Census Bureau is currently taking applications for 2020 census positions. (Supplied)



By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

In 1790, it took about 650 U.S. marshals to complete the first decennial census. Two-hundred thirty years later, the U.S. Census will need a lot more than 650 people to complete the 2020 Census. 

And like many employers, the U.S. Census is finding it difficult to find qualified candidates. The Bureau has fallen short of its goal of more than two million applicants to fill the estimated 500,000 temporary, part-time census positions needed to complete this year’s census.  In fact, the only place in the United States not looking for census workers is the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, according to a recent press release from the U.S. Census Bureau. 

“With low unemployment, the Census Bureau is taking extraordinary efforts to attract enough applicants to fill nearly 500,000 positions this spring,” said Timothy Olson, Census Bureau associate for Field Operations.

Michigan is one of the states were census workers are most needed. Kent County has reached about 48.2 percent of its applicant goal while Ottawa County has done a little better, filling a little more than half of its applicant goal.

“Our aim is to reach interested applicants right now, inform them of updated pay rates in their area, and get them into the applicant pool to be considered for these critical jobs,” Olson said. “The hiring process occurs in stages, and we are encouraging everyone to apply right now before selections being in January and February.”


To learn more about or to apply for a position with the U.S. Census Bureau, go to 2020census.gov/jobs.



According to a press release from the U.S. Census Bureau, the positions, — many are enumerators, people hired to take the census of the population — offer competitive pay, flexible hours, paid trainings, and weekly paychecks. Pay rates for census takers in Michigan have increased, with a range from $14 to $25. Currently the rates for Kent County is $20 per hour and in Ottawa County, it is $18.50 per hour. Visit 2020census.gov/jobs to confirm or check on pay rates in other communities.

The positions are open to anyone who is 18 or older. Census takers will be hired to work in their communities and go door-to-door to collect responses from those who did not fill out their census questionnaire. The selection process starts this month with paid training taking place in March and April. After paid training, most positions will work between May and early July by going door-to-door to collect responses from households who have not responded online, by phone, or by mail. 

The U.S. Census is important not just because it counts the number of people living in a city, state or the country, but the results can have an impact on how billions of dollars in federal funds are allocated to local communities every year for the next 10 years. Some of the federally funded programs that use the census in determining allocations are community block grants, road funding, and school lunch programs. 

The U.S. Census also determines the number of seats a state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2010, the census showed the number of Michigan residents fell by .6 percent since 2000 with Michigan’s number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives being reduced from 15 to 14. The census also determines the number of Michigan House of Representative seats as well. 


For more information about the 2020 Census, visit 2020census.gov



By April 1, all U.S. households will receive an invitation to participate in the census. Residents will be able to respond one of three ways, online, by phone, or by mail. 

Starting in April, census workers will begin visiting college students who live on campus, people living in senior centers, and others who live among large groups of people. Census takers also begin conducting quality check interviews to help ensure an accurate count.

Starting in May, census workers will begin visiting homes that have not responded to the 2020 Census to make sure everyone is counted. 

The U.S. Constitution mandates that a census of the population be conducted every 10 years. By law, the U.S. Census Bureau must deliver apportionment counts to the President and the U.S. Congress in December. Redistricting counts will be sent to the states by March 31, 2021.