All of us have a stake in the 2010 Census

Posted: 6:41 pm Thu, March 11, 2010
By Betsy Nelson
Special to The Daily Record

In the coming weeks the 2010 Census forms will arrive in mailboxes and census enumerators will be knocking on doors, fulfilling a constitutional mandate requiring that every 10 years, everyone in the U.S. is counted. On April 1, be counted!

The 2010 Census will have a decade-long political impact. Census data is used to reapportion seats in Congress and ensure proper district representation in state and local governments.

Many federal grant programs rely directly or indirectly on population measures, and more than 70 federal programs use this data in their distribution formulas. For example, $400 billion a year in federal assistance and billions of additional state dollars will be allocated based on census data for local health, education and transportation programs. That’s $4 trillion over 10 years.

Local governments also rely on an accurate census count to fund services for people in poverty, establish facilities for people with disabilities, determine locations for hospitals and senior centers and forecast transportation needs, such as new roads and public transit options.

Good data for business

Businesses also have a stake in ensuring that the census count is accurate. In many ways it is the country’s biggest and most complete market-research survey.

The census asks households to say how many people live there, and to report their race, sex, age, and whether they own or rent. This population data can assist companies in deciding where to open stores and distribution centers by providing important information about consumers in different geographic areas.

Historically, Maryland has experienced undercounts in the U.S. Census for various reasons — lack of public awareness, limited outreach and the challenges in reaching such a diverse and mobile population.

In 2000, more than 75,000 Maryland residents were not counted, resulting in a projected $5.5 million loss in federal funding of eight major programs (Medicaid, Foster Care, Rehabilitation Services Basic Support, Child Care and Development Block Grant, Social Services Block Grant, Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, Adoption Assistance, and Vocational Education Basic Grants) between 2002 and 2012.

Finding the ‘hard-to-count’

Certain individuals are harder to count and consequently at higher risk of being overlooked. Those most at risk of being undercounted include young children in low-income houses, minorities, recent immigrants, the homeless, renters, and persons living in large households.

Many of those who are “hard-to-count” are located in large urban areas or in poorer sections of rural America.

The response rate for the 2000 census was 67 percent. The other one-third of the population that was not counted resulted in a loss of approximately $1 billion (in 2007 dollars) to the Baltimore region, according to the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.

The 2010 Census is more than just a population count. It’s about the future and well-being of our community and country. Mail back your census form — and tell others to do so, too.

Betsy Nelson, executive director of the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers, writes every other week for The Daily Record.  She can be reached at 410-727-1205 or bnelson@abagmd.org.