AAC
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About NACo – The Voice of America’s Counties National Association of Counties (NACo) is the only national organization that represents county governments in the U.S. NACo provides essential services to the nation’s 3,068 coun- ties. NACo advances issues with a unified voice before the federal government, improves the public’s understanding of county government, assists counties in finding and sharing innova- tive solutions through education and research and provides value-added services to save counties and taxpayers money.
Local efforts key to census accuracy
Counties should start local efforts to encourage census response by late 2018 Story by Charlie Ban
NACo Senior Writer and Web Editor
nal representation, the share of $800 billion in federal fund- ing hinges on results of the census, making it crucial for counties to help ensure an ac- curate tally. Although the Census Bureau
T will hire
500,000 temporary workers to follow up with addresses that do not respond, counties are in the best position to reach out locally to con- vince residents to buy in. “If you get the count wrong, your county is going to feel the impact for a whole decade,” said Karen Narasaki, a consultant to the Bau- man Foundation. “Every statistic is normal- ized back to the census — food assistance, low-income heating, children’s health insur- ance, housing.”
Te last two census counts have had 74
percent national response rates, and the bu- reau expects 65 percent of people to respond to census forms before the bureau initiates follow-up contact.
Counties typically form Complete Count Committees, which pair local officials with members of community groups and business owners to plan outreach. Tim Olson, associate director of field operations for the Census Bureau, said counties should start forming commit- tees in late 2018 and early 2019, but some have a head start. Coconino County, Ariz. has been planning throughout 2018 and along with its seat, Flagstaff, has pledged $300,000 over two years to aid outreach and turnout. Tat will make up for the loss of Recovery Act funding for the 2010 census. “It’s less than $2 per resident,” said Kim Musselman, special
COUNTY LINES, SUMMER 2018
affordable housing, and Northern Arizona University carries more than 31,000 students. “Tat means a lot of reaching out to renters, but that’s
tricky,” said Musselman. “With the price of housing, you may have six people staying
in an apartment but four people on the lease. We have to com- municate to them to answer the form truthfully and honestly. It’s confidential — they won’t get in trouble.”
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he 2020 census is still a year and a half away. But on the other hand, the 2020 census is only a year and a half away. In addition to record keeping and congressio-
assistant to the county manager and the coordinator for the county’s census work. “We estimate every person counted in the 2010 census accounted for $1,900 in federal funding, so it’s a pretty good return on investment.” Te county and city are splitting the contributions evenly, matching the population divide between the two. Both have significant challenges to overcome in the process. Flagstaff has seen its population grow but also struggle with
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