PLANNING FOR
Friday, April 27, 2018 City of Austin CMO Ryan Robinson, City Demographer
• Mandated by the United States Constitution, Art. I, Section 2 • Every ten years since 1790 • Next Census: April 1, 2020 • Managed by the U.S. Census Bureau 2
The Census Is Crucial • Allocation of federal funds to state and local communities - $675 billion/year • Reapportionment of Congressional districts among the states – Texas expected to gain at many as 3 seats
• Redistricting of state house, senate, legislative and other districts City of Austin City Council Districts Travis County Commissioners Court 3
Federal Funds: $675 billion • • • • •
Grants to local school districts (Title I) Highway and public transit programs Emergency food and shelter programs Head Start Women, Infants and Children (WIC) food assistance program • Programs for the elderly • Crime Victim assistance • Substance abuse prevention and treatment 4
The Census Is Crucial
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There Is Broad Interest in an Accurate Count • • • • • •
Educators Health and human services providers Business community Transportation agencies/planners Rural and agricultural community Community organizations and neighborhood groups 6
Final Mail Response Rates - 2010 • • • •
Nationwide Texas Travis County City of Austin
74% 71% 73% 72%
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Travis County Populations At-Risk For An Undercount • Young children (age under 5) • Higher education – some 135,000 people involved in Higher-Ed in Austin • The homeless – by definition, hard to find and count • Non-English speaking –residents who may be somewhat linguistically isolated, speaking Chinese, Vietnamese, or Spanish. • Immigrants – including the undocumented 13
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The Census: Division of Labor • Census Bureau: – Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) – now and then again in 2019 – Put field infrastructure/offices in place – Mail out questionnaires – Hire, train census workers – Public education campaign
• Local communities: – Public education and community outreach 21
GAO: The Census “at risk” • Reduced overall funding for Census 2020 compared to Census 2010 • Including new (largely untested) online and telephone response options plus mail out/back questionnaires • Fewer, and less well-trained, Census field workers for Nonresponse Followup (NRFU) • Significant reductions in budget for education and outreach • Last minute addition of an untested question for Citizenship 22
Austin-Travis County Planning 1) Treat it as a community outreach and education campaign 2) Hire a project manager 3) 18-month planning and execution window 4) Led by Austin-Travis County Complete Count Committee (CCC) 5) Outreach budget = $250,000 6) Funding from business and philanthropic community 23
Austin – Travis County Complete Count Committee • Two groups: – Steering Committee • 12-15 members • Expertise in community outreach, marketing and communications
– Leadership Council • 25-30 members • Civic, business, religious, educational, neighborhood leaders • Activate their networks to spread the word 24
Next Steps • Preparing budget request for FY 2019 and FY 2020 • October: Announce the Census 2020 effort, introduce CCC • January 1, 2019 – project manager comes on board
April 1, 2020: Census Day! 25
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Key milestones of the plan: October 1, 2018 o formal announcement (Mayor and County Judge) of an Austin-Travis County Complete Count Committee for the 2020 Census • chaired by elected officials from the City and County • 12-15 members, with a broad cross-section of community leaders • mission: recruit government, non-profit, and private sector partners to promote and support a “Complete Count” effort, with various levels of participation: financial, personnel, promotional o Travis County and City of Austin each adopt budgets that include $50,000 for a Census 2020 Special Projects Manager Late fall, 2018 o Recruitment of Special Projects Manager to coordinate regional Census 2020 planning and execution o Complete Count Committee begins bi-monthly meetings/training sessions January 1, 2019 o Special Projects Manager begins working
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Key milestones of the plan (con’t): Spring, 2019 o Special Projects Manager develops iterative drafts of a Census 2020 Plan, with fundraising, community outreach and media elements, for review, approval and action by the Complete Count Committee o Complete Count Committee takes lead in recruiting community governmental, private and non-profit institutions to the Census 2020 effort o Speakers Bureau begins operating to promote Census awareness October 1, 2019 o Travis County and City of Austin both adopt budgets that include money for Census 2020 outreach and education effort; other institutional partners also contribute Fall, 2019 o Complete Count Committee finalizes a community outreach, education and media plan for the Census time period, January 1 - June 30, 2020. development of Travis County/Central Texas specific educational and promotional materials • (flyers, TV spots, radio PSAs, newspaper and magazine [e.g., Austin Monthly] stories, billboards) 29
Key milestones of the plan (con’t): January 1 – April 1, 2020 o execution of the outreach, education and media campaign o distribution of Travis County/Central Texas specific educational and promotional materials Mid-March, 2020 o Census Bureau Mails Out Questionnaires April 1, 2020 o Census Day! Mid-May, 2020 o Census Bureau begins Non-Response Follow-up NORFU April 2 – June 30, 2020 o Complete Count Committee takes the lead on follow-up activities to maximize the success of the Census effort o June: Complete Count Committee prepares an evaluation of its efforts and recommendations for future (Census 2030) improvements January 2021 o Census Bureau delivers Data to the President’s Office 30
We’re already working it… Census 2020 Technical Programs • Boundary and Annexation Surveys (making sure the Census Bureau has the latest iteration of our city limit polygon). • LUCA (massive database of Austin residential addresses). • Create new census tracts for 2020. • Support the Census Bureau in their hiring. • Help the Census Bureau lease multiple office sites for their field operations. 31
Final Comments and Challenges 1. Census 2020 has been grossly underfunded‌this shortage will be felt most acutely in their outreach and national-scaled campaign. Housing media Affordability 2. The last minute addition of an untested Achieving significant growth of African American Citizenship question could cause unforeseen households in challenges the future isand dependent on aattracting logistical heighten pervading families children back into the City--and yet, sensewith of fear among immigrant communities, collapsing housing affordabilityundercount. across the City will make resulting in a significant this difficult.
3. Although the new use of internet and telephone response options could prove beneficial, the logistical manifestations could prove unpredictable. 32