If Hattiesburg is going to have an accurate 2020 census count, then the city needs to get ready, an official told the City Council during a work session on Monday, Aug. 5.
Census Bureau official Kristi Hicks spoke to the City Council at the Jackie Dole Sherrill Community Center about the importance of an accurate census count.
Why It Matters
Hospitals. Fire departments. Schools. Even roads and highways. The census can shape many different aspects of your community. Each year, the results help determine how more than $675 billion in federal funding is distributed to states and communities. It's also mandated by the Constitution: The U.S. has counted its population every 10 years since 1790.
“After we do this count in 2020, we can’t do the count again until 2030,” she said. “That’s why it is so critical that we get the count accurate because if we missed a person, we would have to wait 10 years until we do another count of the population again.”
Mayor Toby Barker also stressed the importance of the census count. Hattiesburg went through legal problems with the 2010 census, and Barker doesn’t want to see those problems again.
Mayor Toby Barker
“Every census is important, but this one is especially important because I don’t think we got a great count in 2010,” he said. “Also, we know that we lost a lot of people with two tornadoes. Counting every single person is so critical for our city, particularly in a 2010 census we fell from the third-most populous city to the fourth-most populous. We don’t want to fall below Biloxi; we want to hold what we have at least, if not increase. The best way to do that is to get an accurate count.”
Hicks said every person must be counted to assure accuracy.
“We have to do our civic duty and make sure we count ourselves, and also the people who live in our household,” she said. “The census dictates how many people we send to Congress. In 2000, you might remember that we lost a Representative from five Congressmen to four Congressmen. … (After the 2020 census,) if we decrease to three congressional seats or if we increase, then they will have to redraw the congressional district lines.”
Hicks said Complete Count Committees can reduce the number of people missed in the census.
“In 2010, the United States lost more than 1 million children between 8 and 5 years old that were not counted,” she said. “So, that’s why we say that no only you should do your own census, but also in your household. Make sure everyone is counted so you can get every federal dollar you deserve in Hattiesburg.”
Barker said multiple committees will be formed to facilitate the census counting.
“We will probably create individual Complete Count Committees for individual neighborhoods and apartment complexes to make sure that we count absolutely everyone,” he said. “In addition, we will be presenting a proclamation soon, and we will probably ask the council to do its own resolution as well. So much is tied and so much is at stake with this complete count. There are so many grant programs that rely on populations to allocate funding.”
Hicks said the Census Bureau is restricted in what information it can produce.
“We only give numbers,” she said. “You are protected by Title 13 that states we cannot release information to anyone.”