Coronavirus and Beyond: Emergency Response Depends on Accurate Census Data, & Self-Response Can Help
In a joint statement released today with our colleagues at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), we are highlighting the importance of a fair and accurate 2020 Census during this challenging time, and lifting up the resources available at our HTC 2020 map to help inspire Americans to fill out the 2020 Census form on their own. Self-responding helps ensure that the Census Bureau collects reliable data about the nation's population. And self-responding is a way to practice social distancing because it avoids a knock at your door later on from a census taker.
For people who are at home with some extra time, you should of course fill out the census form online, by phone, or by mail. But the census is easy and takes just 10 minutes. After Friday our map will provide a daily activity that's civic minded: you can follow your community's census progress with the self-response bar chart, as shown in the map below. The 2020 column in the chart will fill in as the Census Bureau publishes daily response rates. How quickly & how far it rises depends on local efforts! (And you can sign up here for email updates when we've added the latest 2020 response rates.)
Not everyone is home with free time, of course. For health care workers, emergency responders, and others doing front-line work to address the coronavirus challenges, we applaud your efforts and hope you will have time eventually to fill out the census. Remember that everyone has the opportunity to self-respond through July 31. The sooner you respond on your own, the more likely you will avoid a knock at your door from a census enumerator.
Our statement with LCCHR follows (Tamika Turner is the contact at LCCHR for more info):
NEW RESPONSE RATE RESOURCES:
Check if your community is on track
People can do their part by responding to the 2020 Census now — online, by phone, or by filling out a paper form
WASHINGTON – As the country grapples with the effects of coronavirus, it’s clear that weathering pandemics calls for careful emergency planning, assessing and protecting those most at risk, and providing lifesaving resources to people affected. That starts with accurate census data and a complete count.
- New analysis by The Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center shows the most accurate census data come from households who self-respond. The Center has newly updated its searchable online map of communities historically missed by the census to include self-response data so census advocates and individuals can check in to make sure their communities are on track compared to previous decennial censuses. The Census Counts campaign coalition uses this map to inform its Get Out the Count (GOTC) outreach and communications strategies.
- Census data are critical for emergency planning and response and the social programs directed by census data have helped keep people afloat in the wake of coronavirus. When people go uncounted in the census or data are inaccurate, community resources are stretched thin. Better data will lead to better emergency response.
- Households can do their part by self-responding to the census online, by phone, or by completing a pre-stamped paper form. It’s quick, easy, and can be done alone at home.
See background below for additional information:
Steven Romalewski, CUNY Mapping Service director, Center for Urban Research, CUNY Graduate Center
"The need for Americans to do their part and fill out their census questionnaire is ever more important and still eminently doable. If you self-respond sooner than later, you avoid a knock at your door later from a Census Bureau staffer whose job is to count you in-person. The Census Bureau gives everyone the option of responding online, by phone, or by mail, so every household should strive to respond on their own,” Steven Romalewski, director of the CUNY Graduate Center’s Mapping Service, said. “A fair and accurate 2020 Census depends on it."
"Our map not only highlights census response in past censuses, but the map will give people at home something to do in the days ahead after they’ve filled out the questionnaire, by checking the response rate progress for their community every day from Friday through July."
Beth Lynk, Census Counts campaign director, The Leadership Conference Education Fund
"The 2020 Census is designed so you can get counted at home by going online, calling the Census Bureau, or filling out the paper form. When households respond to the census on their own, it’s easier for the country to get the complete count we need to support emergency planning and recovery. Everyone has a part to play in participating in the 2020 Census. Make sure your community gets the funding and critical resources it needs to weather disaster and to thrive day-to-day by getting counted today.
"It’s more critical than ever that census advocates work alongside community members to make sure everyone gets counted. Tracking self-response rates with the CUNY Hard-to-Count Map will help ensure that organizations reach out to the right communities, at the right time, and with the right resources."
BACKGROUND:
Census Data Supports Coronavirus Response Efforts
Census data are critical for emergency planning and response. In the case of coronavirus, they can help identify where people who are vulnerable due to advanced age live so officials can implement key prevention efforts. Many of the resources people across the country are relying on in the wake of coronavirus due to illness, job loss, or ongoing need are directed by census data, including:
- Health Care: Medicaid, Medicare, Child Health Insurance Program
- Workforce Assistance: Unemployment Insurance, Aid for dislocated workers
- Food Assistance: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
- Disability Services
- Senior Services
NEW Resources: Census Self-Response Is Critical and Tracking It Is Easier than Ever
- Hard-to-Count 2020 Map: The Center for Urban Research (CUR) at the CUNY Graduate Center has newly updated its searchable online 2020 Census map with self-response trends from the past two decennial censuses, to provide historical context as stakeholders like the Census Counts campaign fine-tune their GOTC plans and participate in the U.S. Census Bureau’s Response Rate Challenge. People can follow along from home and see how their own community is doing and whether they need to spread the word about the census to their own networks. 2020 data will appear as the bureau publishes its rates.
- Census Self-Response Rates Mapped and Analyzed: 2000, 2010, and (soon) 2020: A new report from CUR analyzes state self-response trends from 2000-2010 and shows the relationship between census self-response and data accuracy.
- Weekly analysis of the 2020 rates: CUR will work closely with other census experts to analyze the self-response rate trends on a weekly basis, to provide context and interpretation for census stakeholders who can use this information to reprioritize their GOTC strategies as needed, and for philanthropic funders, journalists, elected officials, and others who will be following the progress of the 2020 Census.
Information on self-response options and how the census counts people in different living situations can be found here.
The Leadership Conference Education Fund builds public will for federal policies that promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States. The Education Fund’s campaigns empower and mobilize advocates around the country to push for progressive change in the United States. It was founded in 1969 as the education and research arm of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. For more information on The Education Fund, visit civilrights.org/edfund/.
Links to earlier updates
The HTC 2020 map is a work in progress. Other recent updates and enhancements are described here:
- March 2020: The HTC map is now focused on census self-response rates. All the former info at the map is still there. But now that census mailings are going out, the map has been updated to reflect 2010 response rates in anticipation of integrating 2020 real-time rates after March 20. NB: the map not only displays response rates for each state, county, and tract, but also include a bar chart in the map's left-hand panel that shows the 2010 rate (and 2000, for historical context) for now. The 2020 column in the bar chart is empty, but it will start to go up after March 20. How quickly and how far it rises depends on local census stakeholders!
- February 2020: New data on the risk of undercounting young children, in collaboration with the Population Reference Bureau. For more info, visit PRB's website.
- January 2020: To help promote the official start of the 2020 Census in Alaska, we added a special "It Starts Here" (in Toksook Bay, AK) graphic on the map. Updates in January also included new 2014-2018 population estimates for tracts, counties, states, and legislative districts, and more.
- December 2019: New advanced tract search feature, statewide maps of Census Bureau contact strategies, and more.
- November 2019: Comprehensive information for all 2020 Census contact techniques combined in one place at the HTC 2020 map, so census stakeholders can more easily inform local residents about what to expect when the 2020 decennial census takes place. Also see the CUNY Center for Urban Research website for a state-by-state analysis.
- October 2019: Updates to TEA designations; the latest examples of groups using the HTC map across the country; enhancing the HTC metrics with the Census Bureau's "low response score", the Urban Institute's projections of undercount by state; & more.
- August 2019: In-Field Address Canvassing areas & stats on the map; organizations that are using the HTC map for local grant assistance; new examples of linking to and/or embedding the HTC map.
- July 2019: new feature to highlight tracts based on share of households without internet access; a list of other census maps nationwide, and more.
- June 2019: Census contacts by state/county; census tract search feature.
- April 2019: customized printing, data downloads, and more.
- March 2019: mapping Type of Enumeration Areas (TEA) and Area Census Offices (ACOs)
- January 2019: new ACS data for the 2013-17 period (including internet access), new legislative info, public library locations, and tribal lands added to the map.
If you haven't signed up for our HTC 2020 map updates, please do so here.
We look forward to hearing your suggestions for improving the map. Please contact the Mapping Service at the CUNY Graduate Center with your feedback.
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