The 2020 Census officially begins on March 15 for Columbia, Garfield, and Walla Walla Counties

WALLA WALLA—Invitations will be sent to residents in Columbia, Garfield and Walla Walla Counties in March asking them to fill out the online 2020 census, according to Juan Sanchez who is the Census 2020 Coordinator for our region.

“The portal for people to officially fill out the census opens on March 15,” he said.

Failure to complete the census will yield a flurry of follow-up notices, and any households that fail to respond by April 27, will be visited in person, he said.

“Right now, recruiters are out and about hiring for what is called an enumerator, and those are the people that actually go door to door. But our hope is that with our presentations on the census, and the importance of it, that no one will need to show up at their door,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez said he has been tailoring and pitching Census 2020 to various organizations in Walla Walla, Columbia, and Garfield Counties. Last month he gave presentations to the Walla Walla, Garfield and Columbia County commissioners.

He is currently working with various groups such as the Dayton Memorial Library to provide laptop computers for people to use to fill out the census.

Census 2020 has only ten questions; name, address, and phone number, how many people are living or staying in the home, whether the home is owned or rented, gender, age, and race of people in the home, and about the relationship of each person in the home, and whether people in the home are of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. This last question is asked for federal agencies to monitor compliance with anti-discrimination provisions, such as those in the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act, according to information from the U.S. Census Bureau.

All of the information shared is protected by law.

The U.S. Census Bureau is ensuring that ways to respond are accessible for everybody. There are large print guides and questionnaires in twelve languages, including American Sign Language and Braille.

Census data is used to allocate over $800 billion nationally in federal programs and resources.

Why is an accurate count important to Washington State?

In 2015 the state received around $13.7 billion in funding from federal programs that use census data. Elected officials, businesses, and other decision makers use census data to make critical economic decisions and to inform public policy solutions. Census data informs how $200 million is allocated to counties and cities each year in the state.

“These agencies use a multitude of funding methodologies to determine distribution amounts. Updating the census numbers is key to ensuring that our growth and need are accurately reflected in our numbers used in these calculations,” said Columbia County Auditor Anne Higgins.

Census data is also used to reapportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and draw state and local legislative districts. Because of the 2010 Census, Washington State gained an additional congressional seat.

“The census is very important to our office in regard to the election process, and ensuring that the various voting districts are equally distributed,” Higgins said.

Higgins said the census will result in redistricting for compactness, contiguity, partisan fairness, preservation of existing political communities and equal population, a process she looks forward to undertaking.

Port of Columbia Executive Director Jennie Dickinson said an example of funds that would be at risk with an inaccurate census count are; the Women, Infant and Children (WIC) program, the Food Stamp Program, Medicaid, Pell Grants, Housing Assistance and funding for roads.

“Washington State stands to lose $1,910 per person, per year, for ten years, for every person who is not counted,” she said.

“Knowing the real population is also extremely important for land use and economic development planning. Businesses use census data to decide where to locate. Local governments use census data for public safety and emergency preparedness planning,” Dickinson said.

Sanchez agreed about the importance of an accurate count.

He said, “We try to focus more about how it will affect your community, what’s at stake. We are at risk of losing funding and the problem is that it’s not just one year you are affected. You are affected for the next ten years.

“Nonprofits like Blue Mountain Action Council (BMAC) count on an accurate census, as well. We have six or seven programs that are directly affected by the census. These are the same populations they are wanting to count,” he said.

This month Sanchez will meet with “conveners” on the Blue Mountain Complete Count Committee, focusing on hard to identify populations.

“Conveners have a history of working with certain populations like health care, government, or LGBTQ or Latino populations,” Sanchez said. “We have tracks that determine which areas are difficult to count.”

“Walla Walla has a specific area near the penitentiary that was difficult to count so we are looking at maps that show what was difficult back then and trying to make sure we’re getting outreach in those areas,” he said.

Dickinsen said her role as a convener in Columbia County is to help Sanchez invite people to the table to discuss how enumerators or census takers can connect with citizens that are harder to reach.

“We do have hard to reach populations, especially people suspicious of government who don’t want them in their business,” she said.

She said there are multiple ways enumerators will work with people to help them through the process.

The U.S. Census Bureau wants everybody counted in 2020.

In 2010, 84.6 percent of residents in Columbia County completed the census, compared to 79.8 percent in Walla Walla County, and 81.9 percent in Garfield County.

For more information about Census 2020 contact Juan Sanchez by email at: juans@bmacww.org or Facebook at: BMCCC2020, or by phone at: (509) 529-4980.