A new panel created by Gov. Phil Scott aims to increase participation in the 2020 Census.
The Vermont 2020 Complete Count Committee, set to begin meeting early next month, aims to improve outreach to groups historically underrepresented in the decennial survey, including minorities, youth, seniors and immigrants, to ensure there is as accurate a count of the state’s population as possible.
Data collected through the Census has practical implications for allotment of resources and electoral districts, as well as being a way to better understand the demographics of the state, according to Michael Moser, Vermont State Census Data Center coordinator.
“It’s a good way for us to reset and really understand what the population is at that one point in time,” Moser said Monday.
According to a study by George Washington University, in fiscal year 2017, more than $1.5 trillion distributed nationwide by the federal government was determined by 2010 Census data.
In fiscal year 2016, Vermont received almost $2.5 billion from the federal government based on data collected in the 2010 Census, according to another George Washington University study. The funding went to 55 diverse programs, including food assistance, higher education support, and highway infrastructure.
On average, the state receives $4,000 per Vermont resident in programs related to the Census, according to the governor’s office, which officials say make an accurate count particularly important for the small state.
Census data is also the foundation of electoral districts. While Vermont, with its comparatively small population, is not poised to have a count significant enough to earn a second seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, the data is also used to shape voting districts within Vermont, according to Moser.
The committee, which the governor created by executive order last week, will be responsible for creating a strategy to reach population groups that are chronically undercounted in the Census. The panel includes state officials, lawmakers and representatives of local government, homeless shelters, the LGBTQ community, immigrant groups, health care industry and others.
“The results of the Census inform important decisions of federal and state government, impacting our ability to grow the economy, make Vermont more affordable and protect the most vulnerable in all 251 towns,” Scott said in a statement Friday about the commission.
The committee is modeled on a suggestion from the Census Bureau to help states increase participation, according to Moser. He was not aware that Vermont convened a similar committee in 2010.
Concerns about participation in the Census by immigrants have been heightened because of an effort by the Trump administration to add a question about citizenship status to the survey. The administration dropped the question after a protracted court battle, but there are still concerns that immigrants may not participate, hindering the ability of the Census to get a true population count.
Enrique Balcazar, a leader of Migrant Justice, said he believes immigrants in Vermont, including members of the migrant farmworker advocacy group, should participate in the Census.
“It’s important to be counted, because immigrant communities have never been fully counted in this country and have never been fully considered as part of the communities in which they live, and that takes away opportunities for us,” he said in Spanish, with Migrant Justice’s Will Lambek translating.
But Balcazar doubts members of the group will fully participate.
“There’s a lot of work to be done to make sure that people actually have the trust and the confidence and the knowledge to want to participate freely in the Census,” he said. Migrant Justice doesn’t plan to do any outreach around the Census.
Moser said that the discussion around the citizenship question, even in Vermont where there is a relatively small immigrant population, may increase “the potential for people to be nervous about the federal government asking them questions about who lives in their house.” However, he also views it as an opportunity to educate people about how their participation impacts the resources that come back to their community.
Multiple regions in Vermont had rates of returning Census surveys by mail below 73% in 2010. Parts of Lamoille, Orange and Washington counties, along with parts of the Northeast Kingdom ranked among some of the “hardest to count” Census tracts in the country.
However, Moser notes that in Vermont’s small towns, a single quirk — such as a senior living facility, where it’s often more difficult to get responses — can skew numbers so a region has lower response rate. Presence of second homes also can impact the rate, he said.
Next year, for the first time, the Census will collect responses online.
“I’m really hopeful that … it’ll really increase the efficiency of the process overall,” Moser said.
For households without adequate internet access, they will have the opportunity to fill out and mail in a paper survey. The state is also working with librarians around Vermont to ensure that people can use computers and internet connections at public libraries to complete their Census. Where forms are not returned, then Census takers will go door to door.
