Census Count Begins in March; All Residents Urged to Participate
Silver City -- The Grant County "Complete Count" Committee, has organized to help ensure a complete 2020 U.S. Census count for Grant County, and members are asking local residents to apply now to become a census taker, which will help make sure that even hard-to-reach populations are counted. The committee's goal is to count every single person in Grant County, including babies and children, and undocumented immigrants.
The U.S Constitution requires that the census occur every 10 years, and the data gathered from it is used to determine how some $675 billion in federal funding is allocated to vital human services, such as housing, health care, food stamps and many other programs. Census data also determine how many Congressional representatives each state gets, as well as how Congressional and state legislative districts are drawn.
Historically, New Mexico's population has been undercounted in the census process, in part due to its vast, remote rural areas. In 2010, New Mexico's response rate was the second lowest in the country, and some two percent of the population went missing in the 2000 census. That means lost funding that could have come to the state and local governments. Complete Count Committee Co-Chairman Mischa Larisch says that if more local census takers are hired who are familiar with the area and are well-trained, that will help contribute to the state's overall complete count efforts, and increase the level of federal funding.
"Many people don't know that they are required by the federal government to complete the census survey, and they may ignore it because they don't understand how important it is," said Larisch. "Ironically the people who don't participate are often those who depend most on the human services that are funded according to census data. That's why we are asking people to apply to become a census taker, and also working to prepare people to complete the process when it kicks off in March."
As an example of one federal program that the county relies heavily on, Priscilla Lucero, executive director of the Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments and a Complete County Committee member, said that Grant County has received more than $65 million in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds since the program's inception.
"Without CDBG dollars, it would be next to impossible for our small, rural communities to fund important infrastructure and other capital improvements," she said. "It's critical that people participate in the census process, and the more local people who are hired as census workers, the better off this region and the entire state will be when it comes to funding so many services that people depend on."
The 2020 census count actually begins March 3rd, and there are four ways to respond: online; by phone; and by mail; and later in the process, census takers will conduct one-on-one interviews in the home. Moveable kiosks will also be available at public offices throughout the county to help make it easy for residents to be counted. The census process ends July 31, 2020.
Grant County census workers earn $16.50 per hour, and will be paid for training time, according to information online at www.2020census.gov/jobs, where prospective census takers may apply. Hours are flexible, workers are paid weekly and will be reimbursed for mileage and other approved expenses. For more information and for help applying, call 1 (855) JOB-2020, or 1 (800) 877-8339 for the federal relay service.