Communities are starting to engage residents on the importance of being counted in the 2020 Census. MPB’s Alexandra Watts reports on what impact the census has on the Mississippi Delta.
In the Mississippi Delta, community leaders are starting work to make sure everybody is counted in the 2020 Census.
State Representative John Hines represents Delta counties. He says the population count of an area impacts federal funding for all who live there — counted or not.
“We have a community hospital here," Hines said. "The amount of federal funds that they can access comes through the census number. The federal numbers that come in for roads and bridges, the subsidies that the farmers receive…Pell Grant information. All those things come to play when you begin to talk about the census and how people are being counted.”
Some cite privacy concerns on why they don’t fill out the Census. But John Green of the Center for Population Studies at the University of Mississippi said there will be efforts to hire people actually from the Delta to knock on doors.
He also said the Census will be largely online for the first time which could increase turnout.
“So for the first part, the wave is going to get people to participate online, so then they don’t have to worry about anybody coming to their door," Green said.
This is the first census to be largely online and will also impact the number of house seats and electoral votes for elections from 2022 to 2030.
