There are about five weeks left before the U.S. Census will wrap up its nationwide headcount, after a judge in California .
The uncertainty in when the census count will end has complicated outreach efforts from Metro East community organizations seeking to increase local participation.
鈥淭hey have tried to handicap us by cutting off a month, but we will prevail, and we will do what we have to, to get these numbers up,鈥� said Yolanda Crochrell, executive director of the Quad City Community Development Center in Madison County.
Throughout the end of August and all of September, her organization has hosted or been a part of different events, like food giveaways, in Madison County designed to increase the number of census responses in the region. Crochrell now has another month to host events that will increase those numbers.
The census count determines a wide range of federal and state government funding and services for the next decade.
鈥淲ith the cutoff at such an abrupt moment, it forces us to cram a lot of activities or events together,鈥� Crochrell said. 鈥淚鈥檓 concerned we won鈥檛 have enough time to get the percentage that we need.鈥�
Crochrell focused on increasing responses in Alton, Madison, Venice, Granite City and other parts of Madison County with harder-to-count populations. Her goal is for Madison County to end with an overall self-response percentage of 75% or 80%. .
The Quad City Community Development Center received funding from a grant from Madison County to increase census engagement this year. When the pandemic hit, the county transferred all engagement responsibilities to the center, Crochrell said.
Local organizations driving responses
The center focused on using existing relationships with local nonprofits and others, like Venice Township, to spread the word about the census.
鈥淎 lot of the hard-to-count populations come to the township for various services,鈥� said Dewanda Crochrell, a census coordinator with Quad City, who is Yolanda鈥檚 sister-in-law. 鈥淲e knew they had monthly giveaways hosted by the St. Louis Food Bank.鈥�
Crochrell explained they wanted to provide educational information about the census鈥� importance early so that residents would be primed to respond. But residents weren鈥檛 responding as well as they had hoped, she said.
鈥淭hey would say, 鈥榊eah, we completed it鈥� and keep on going,鈥� Crochrell said. 鈥淚 said we鈥檙e gonna have to do something else. We鈥檙e going to have to get some type of insurance the census questionnaire is being completed.鈥�
The organization shifted to the idea of a raffle, in which residents could win $500 if they completed the census and submitted a slip with their contact information and census confirmation number to red boxes distributed throughout the community, she said.
鈥淭he money was a motivator,鈥� Crochrell said. 鈥淎t these times it鈥檚 a hard time for a lot of our seniors, our people of color. We鈥檙e starting to get more of a response because of a desire and a need that can be met by completing the census questionnaire.鈥�
At events, the center set up laptops where staff members help residents respond to the census questionnaire online.
The center鈥檚 tactics focused on building incentives for people to respond, but other organizers used more direct approaches.
鈥淚鈥檓 changing the terminology from, 鈥楶lease engage and do the census,鈥� to now it鈥檚 a 鈥楥ensus checkpoint,鈥� kind of like a COVID checkpoint,鈥� said Stephanie Taylor, president of Community Development Sustainable Solutions, an East St. Louis nonprofit. 鈥淚f you come past us or encounter us, we will run your name, so it鈥檚 become a checkpoint because of the urgency.鈥�
In other cases, her organization will travel to residents鈥� homes to help them respond.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 how serious it is,鈥� Taylor said.
Endless disruptions
Illinois had always in especially hard-to-reach areas. The state awarded nearly .
鈥淧art of the census initiative has to do with using trusted messengers,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淲e knew from the onset that individuals in and outside our community do not open doors to strangers.鈥�
Most of the planned engagement centered on in-person events in the lead-up and after counting began in mid-March.
鈥淎fter the pandemic it had to change, because we could no longer do direct engagement activities as originally planned,鈥� Dewanda Crochrell said.
Crochrell鈥檚 organization shifted to contactless events like drive-thru giveaways of food or other essential items.
The coronavirus pandemic created issues for Taylor, too. She said some of the businesses and organizations where she had been canvassing no longer wanted her workers on their property for safety reasons.
Taylor said she needed to get creative in finding especially hard-to-count residents in her community.
鈥淲e鈥檙e following emergency trucks with food services,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople that must go to the aid office and renew their benefits, we鈥檙e standing outside across the street from the aid office.鈥�
Taylor said she also ran into barriers with people who were weary of anything associated with the government, especially after the killing of George Floyd.
鈥淪ome people may lash out and say, 鈥業f this is the government, then I don鈥檛 want to have any dealings with that,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭here are a lot of things going on right now that give people the perfect opportunity to give you an excuse.鈥�
Consequences of the count
Census counts are used to calculate how much funding a locality receives from federal and state governments, as well as the state's congressional representation. The data also determines how some grant funding and other programs are distributed to communities.
鈥淥ur city needs funding. Our summer camps and programs here for our youth need funding,鈥� Yolanda Crochrell said. 鈥淎 child out of school is a child that鈥檚 not eating in this community.鈥�
She said Madison and Venice are communities that need many of the same resources East St. Louis does, but they鈥檙e passed over.
鈥淯sually they give funding and grants to East St. Louis before they give it Madison and Venice,鈥� Crochrell said. 鈥淓verybody looks over us.鈥�
For Taylor, the count represents what resources the area will get in the next decade.
And right now it鈥檚 not looking good. East St. Louis and Venice have self-response rates around 45%, more than 10 percentage points lower than their final 2010 rates.
鈥淚f we don鈥檛 make at least 60%, what we think looks bad now, what we think looks like it鈥檚 war-torn, will probably crumble,鈥� Taylor said.
Eric Schmid covers the Metro East for 漏 2024 外网天堂 as part of the journalism grant program: , an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Follow Eric on Twitter:
