City leaders urge census participation

If you don’t participate in the 2020 U.S. Census, you could be the reason why your city loses money and representation.

For example, Homewood doesn’t have any representation on the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority’s board. But citizens in Homewood use the MAX Transit more and pay more into the system than many surrounding communities.

“Despite the fact that we pay all of this money and we use the service more than other municipalities, we have no representation or voice on the board because 2010 Census results didn’t show our population,” Homewood City Councilwoman Barry Smith said.

Funding for local schools, roads and more is also based on census data. Smith points to Head Start, a preschool and kindergarten program for economically disadvantaged children, as an example.

“It’s a great, fantastic program, but the funding for that and the places they have it is specifically funded by census information,” Smith said. “If you don’t show that you have that need, you’re not going to get funding to have that.”

Homewood had a 74% response rate to the 2010 Census. Smith, councilor Jennifer Andress and other city leaders have formed a committee to tackle the sense of apathy that Homewood citizens feel toward the census.

“It’s definitely more than doing the right thing,” Andress said. “It’s more than just doing your civic duty. It’s actually standing up and being counted and putting your foot down for your community.”

By looking at 2010 Census data, the committee recognized which communities in Homewood to target in this year’s efforts. It noticed that Samford University students and people living in apartments had lower participation rates.

“A lot of times, people who just rent don’t necessarily feel like members of the community, but they are, and they are supposed to be counted in the census,” Smith said.

Parents aren’t supposed to respond for college students who live away from home, she added. Those students should be counted at the place where they live and sleep most of the time.

The Homewood Fire Department will help target these apartment communities with a mobile command unit. This air-conditioned, Wi-Fi-enabled vehicle will have bilingual helpers on hand to assist people through the process.

“This would maybe give them a sense of comfort for the fire department to be involved, because everybody loves the Homewood Fire Department,” Smith said. “And also just having people there who can help them maneuver through that process.”

Because Homewood has such a diverse population, Smith said, there is a feeling of discomfort from those who don’t have citizenship status or aren’t educated about the census. They might feel scared to give out their personal information, Smith said.

“That is not what the census is about,” Smith said. “Census information is basically locked down for 77 years … so our goal is to try to reach out to some of those populations and try to get them to be more responsive this time.”

Smith and Andress said they plan to participate in a variety of Homewood events surrounding Census Day, which is April 1. They said they want to have a tent set up at the We Love Homewood Day Festival with information about the census, and they plan on making their float census-themed for this year’s We Love Homewood Day Parade.

They are also planning a census drive at the Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest.

Beyond Homewood, Andress said it’s important for the entire state of Alabama to participate in this year’s census. Alabama currently has seven congressional representatives, but if Alabama’s census results show too much population decline, the state will lose a congressional seat.

Andress is challenging other Birmingham area municipalities to raise their participation rates. In 2010, census participation rates in surrounding cities were 70% for Birmingham, 78% for Hoover, 84% for Mountain Brook and 81% for Vestavia Hills.

“We have got a great relationship with our other area councilors, and we welcome anyone into that,” she said. “It’s kind of a fun thing that drives the narrative and gets all of us involved.”

Alabama residents can expect to receive a notice about the census in the mail beginning mid-March. From there, they can complete the survey by mail, phone or online. The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Those who don’t complete the survey by May will be visited at their residence by a U.S. Census Bureau employee.

Visit census.alabama.gov for more information.