Posted Wednesday, December 4, 2019 4:18 pm

The federal government is already hiring workers to help conduct the 2020 U.S. census, which officially gets underway on April 1 of next year. Even as federal officials ramp up their efforts surrounding the census, we need to be thinking about it at the local level as well, and recognize the degree to which our local participation in the census makes a huge difference in our communities, from the funding for schools and public projects, to political representation.

As was the case ten years ago, maximizing Minnesota’s count could be key to maintaining eight congressional districts. As population growth in Sun Belt states has outstripped that in many northern states, the risks that Minnesota could lose a congressional seat continue to grow. Many other Midwestern states have already lost representation as a result of the trend, but so far, Minnesota has been able to avoid that through strong participation in the census.

Yet the census is much more than a head count for political representation, although that’s obviously important.

It’s not only important to be counted, it’s critical that area residents answer all the questions on their census form, or they can affect their community’s ability to qualify for federal programs, like the Community Development Block Grant program, which can be an important funding source for a wide range of infrastructure and development projects in communities with a higher-than-average percentage of low and moderate income residents. Some of our area communities, like Tower and Cook, that should certainly qualify for CDBG funds based on average household income, did not qualify following the 2010 census because of poor participation on some of the income-related questions.

One recent analysis found that individuals with lower incomes are less likely to be forthcoming on the census than individuals with higher incomes. Participation from minority groups, like Native American families, is also lower than among white families. And that’s unfortunate, since it means communities that would normally qualify for programs like CDBG, which can provide a boost to low-income communities, can lose out if too many low- and moderate-income families don’t respond, or don’t respond accurately, to certain census questions. By fully and accurately completing your census form, you are actually helping your community, particularly if your household is low-to-moderate income.

This is a message that community leaders and elected officials across our area need to continuously highlight ahead of the start of the census. Residents, particular those living in low-and moderate-income households, need to understand the importance of full participation. And it will take a sustained effort here locally to ensure that families in the North Country understand what’s at stake.

The public also needs to recognize that fears that the census would be used to target undocumented residents are unfounded. After considerable pressure from the courts and others, the Trump administration eventually opted against including a citizenship question on the census form. That’s appropriate, since the census was always intended as a head count of all residents, not just documented American citizens. We don’t have that many undocumented residents in our area, but those who are here should not fear the census in any case. When it comes to the census, we all count. And that means we all need to do our part.