 I'm Marcia Joyner and today we are going to talk about how you shape the future of Hawaii and the United States. So are you counting? So today we are going to talk to Annie Mae Sokou, who is the partner, I think it's partnership director of the Census 2020 in Hawaii. Annie Mae, welcome Aloha. Thank you so much for having me again on your show and thank you so much for being one of our committed partners in the field, helping us join us in this journey as we prepare our community to be counted this coming 2020. So thank you again. Well thank you. Tell us about the history of the census and what it does and why it's important. So we can go all the way back to 1790 was it? Yes we've been doing the census for more than 230 years for 230 years and so this is really one of the oldest activities that this country has been doing for the purpose of reapportionment so making sure that we have the right representation in the House of Representatives redistricting as well and also the census decides or guides the distribution of federal funds that comes into our community. Funds that support different services for children, our kikis, our kupunas, you know community centers, our roads, transportation, healthcare, section 8 housing, SNAP are really a lot of federally funded programs that we all benefit from. Now you mentioned the numbers in Congress so I have told everybody we have to be counted because we have enough people for another congressional district especially when our congressperson from CD2 is absent. Anyway that's a different story. However, we do want everybody to be counted. You sent me a great article and these are congressional seats that changed because of the census in 2010. The Bureau announced the US population had grown to 308,745,538 million people and an increase of about 9.7 percent. States gaining one or more seats in Congress, Arizona, Florida plus two, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas plus four, Utah and Washington. The state's losing one or more seats in Congress, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York two, Ohio two, Pennsylvania. So we can't afford to lose but we can gain. We do have enough population if everybody signs up. That is newborns, everybody, grandpa, everybody has to sign up. So tell us what we do to get signed up. Okay so from what we're hearing, again we've been doing this for a long time but this is the first time that you will have an opportunity to respond online. So we've been hearing first that our community knows that the census is coming but they're really not aware that they can do it online now. So for less than 10 minutes of your time depending on how many of you in your household you can just go on your laptop, on your iPad, in your phone to respond online. So it's a website that you just go to and that will start beginning March 12, 2020. So we have the timeline. So we always say April 1 is a census day but every household in America will start getting their mail around March 12 to 2020 and you will get an invitation in the mail to respond online and later that's the sample, the sample of the letter that you will get online and you have a census ID so you'll get on the mail. The sample letter you will get on the mail and that is an invitation for you to go online and count everyone in your household. So that's beginning March 12, 2020 so watch out for it on your mail and immediately just do it. However if you're not able to do it during that time, March 16 to 24, the US Census Bureau is going to send you a reminder letter again to respond to the census. However, if you're still not able to do it during that time, March 26 to April 3 is a reminder postcard. So that's your third reminder and then during that time we will assume that your household may not have access to computer or internet and which is a reality for a lot of our community. So you will still get your paper questionnaire on your fourth reminder. So I just want to make sure that everyone still knows that you do have the option online, you still have your paper questionnaire option and you can still make the phone call. So on your fourth reminder on April 8 to 16, your reminder letter will come with a paper questionnaire, okay? So don't be like, oh I'm not, I can already feel, I know we've been hearing this from our partners and when we talk to the community, it's like, how about us? We don't have access to computer or we're not really online, you know, we don't really like going online or not text savvy, we still have the paper questionnaire and you will still get your paper questionnaire. Now if you still did not respond, yes Ms. Marsha? No, I was going to say about the library, can they go to the library to use the computer? Yes, you have an amazing partnership with a state library, there are amazing partners so you can go to your libraries and you know access the computer there because they have those resources so that you can respond online. Just bring your census ID and your letter, it just makes it easier, you know, if you have that census ID, you can still sign up, you can still register but having that census ID will, it's much easier for you and for the census bureau as well and then around April 20 to 27 is a final reminder letter and then after that you really have a month and a half almost to respond to the census, self-respond, be proactive, you can do it at your own leisure and then after that we do the non-response follow-up in which on May we will be knocking on doors to those households who did not respond. So honestly, it's so much easier to just go online or do your paper questionnaire, whatever works for you during that time frame so you don't, you know, you don't get a knock on your door and you can do it at your own leisure. Well, you know, two-thirds of the state of Hawaii is ruled and so many of them do not have internet connection so do you, what's the deal with getting all of those people? It's fine for us that think because we've got internet we kind of think everybody in the world does but, you know, some places on the Big Island for instance, they do not have internet connection, places like Hana, some of them do, some don't. So there's, that is a real issue, expecting people and then know some people right here close to me that have internet but they know how to, they don't know how to do it because they said, well, they're old and they don't know what to do and whatnot. So those, there are a lot of people that don't know what to do. How do we deal with that? What are we doing? Are there people to help? Do you have people that can actually help them through the process? Thank you so much for your question Ms. Marcia and because, you know, it really highlights a lot of challenges in the community such as lack of access, you know, as you mentioned to internet or to computer or any kind of device that, you know, they can do this online and we're very much aware of that and so for the rural areas, depending on, we have this system actually where you can look at type of enumeration area. So depending on where you are, especially for rural areas, you have a different enumeration. So for you, it will be an update leave. What is an update leave? An update leave is you will get your paper questionnaire immediately. You're not going to go through, you're going to get five reminders. Well, you will get your paper questionnaire immediately because we know that that area already has lack of maybe internet or computer access. So you will immediately get your paper questionnaire and just directly send it to the mail. So that will be what we call the update leave and then we actually are implementing and this is really huge because it's really one way of bridging those gaps in the communities and how can you really reach out to those people who might have a hard time responding one way or another, whether it's technology, language barrier or whatnot. So we want to help our community alleviate that problem. So well, this is a big ask that we would like to, you know, ask organizations out there who could help us help us identify areas in your community, the who and the where. Because we have this program called Mobile Questionnaire Assistance and we will send our staff there. We will send with the technology that they need to help that community get counted so they can go there and, you know, they can be enumerated in this Mobile Questionnaire Assistance events. We call it MQA. So right now we're actually gonna, I'm actually gonna go to training later for that and we will get, we'll give more information but right now let's start thinking about where are those areas that we need help so you can contact us, the Census Bureau, your city, Complete Count Committee and ask for, you know, help if you haven't met any of us yet but for those who are already our partners, you know, please reach out and let us know like this area might need help. So we're going to those low response areas where we know there are challenges and we are ready for seeing them but at the same time later on when all of these go live and we will have a live update of which Census tracts are responding or not or slow to respond so we're going to go there and try to help them and we're also working with our partners in making this happen so it's not just us but our community partners, community leaders who are there in the field who knows their community well and who are communicating with us with, you know, what they need. So please let us know if there's any way that we can help your community, we can send people there with their devices and we can get them, get them counted. Well now when we're talking about getting everyone counted so let's let's look at that if, well of course newborns you want you want the baby to be counted absolutely because that person's going to grow so they need to be included then what we have people in the military we have students away at college and we have family in the lock up at OCCC or wherever so tell us about those people how they are counted so for example you mentioned newborn babies thank you so much for mentioning the newborns because zero to five years old kids are usually not counted by their family for one way or another in one way or another maybe they're too young and they forget that they already but you know there's many ways that families forget or maybe the family the child lives with parents you know there's so many ways that the kids are not counted and so we're really pushing this count your kids um in this coming census they will be counted with the family and sleep most of the time okay so just add the the cakey there when you're doing your your questionnaire now for the college students now college students will be counted where they are going to school so where the university is so if you have a kid who's attending university in Nevada or California they will be counted there and at the same time for those mainland kids who are coming to school here in Hawaii they will be counted here so depending on where they live if they live in dormitories where we will be counting them in what we call the enumeration group quarters they will be counted in their dormitories where they live and if they live around you know the university we will also be counting them are in their rented home or space wherever they will be so they will be counted here if they're studying here and then for those who are for example in a correctional facility or in a group home they will be counted the same thing group quarters so we will send an enumerator there we will be working with them with their point of contact and they will be enumerated or in a group quarter set up same with the military it depends we are actually working as well with our military to make sure that we get a complete count because the military personnel and their families will be counted if they are assigned for example they are assigned here they will be counted here in the state of Hawaii so we are working very closely and actually we're meeting next week with you know our point of contacts in different installations as well to brief them about the coming 2020 census so the same thing if they live in a barracks they will be counted in a group quarter setting if they if the family lives on base you will still have the same opportunity as everyone else to respond online on paper and on the phone and the same thing with the military who are living you know off base you you will be counted just like everyone else you will get your your letter to self-response if you are in a self-response enumeration area so yes we encourage everyone if you get the letter to self-response to please do and if you get your paper questionnaire immediately then just fill it out and send it on the mail well now if um let's say you you have a student from china that's more for their term here at the university how is that person counted so our visitors as us um they're here for yeah they're gonna be in your home let's say for nine months how are they counted recent um six months and one day actually so so that so that's counted in your household counted in your household yes that's actually one of the questions i was so glad i was in the workshop because i'm like what is that and they like six months and one day okay so that means so far visitor so that's if you're a visitor and you you're counted in the household where you are physically residing is that correct um is you know for six months and one day um you will be counted you will count your mom there um or however who's visiting whoever's visiting you so what about uh foster children there in your household foster children living in your house will be counted in your household okay household whoever so is living in whoever even if you blood relative they will be counted in your household so um actually we would like to make this appeal like um even if renters are you know someone is renting one of your rooms to please count them as well they're not gonna that's the address you're sharing the same address right so um we encourage everyone to go so like some of those monster houses that have you know who knows how many people so all of them are counted in that resident or do they one of those if they're if they're renting a room would they be counted on their own would they get a letter to to um if that's their address they're renting a room but that is their address would they get a letter also that is only one address so what I mean one letter one census ID for that household so even if someone is you have a monster monster home you have a big house and you know you're you're um renting one or two rooms please count those renters in your household as well who are living with you um because they won't get you're sharing the same address right so they're not gonna get um another letter so we encourage everyone even if you're you know blood uh relative if it's if this person is living in your household to please count them yeah okay I was trying to hope we are not leaving anybody out because like I am hell bent on we have to have everybody counted because we need a cd3 we need another congressional district and I think that so in the long run we are talking about shaping the future that is shaping the future another congressional seat so um more than anything now uh good bye let's see because you know I am I'm not sure that I understand how this works everything is private however if I go back to 1900 I can pull up the census and find that John Doe was living here and he had a wife and there were four children in the house how does that work that it's private and yet it's open to the public so the information is released after only yes the confidentiality of your information so we would like to remind everyone that the census is important it is safe your private information is protected by law under under title 13 um we don't uh share any of your personal information and so your information is safe it is only released after 72 or 73 years I'm not 72 years I believe please correct me if I'm wrong I'm thinking 72 I'm getting confused now but um it's only released after that length of time so if you think about it like a lifespan of a person um average um and then that's really where what you know some of our partners are sharing with us they're using to trace their ancestry um to learn more you know their grandparents or their great great grandparents to learn more about the history of their family so um that is also one of the ways that the census is being utilized but that is after a period of time a very long period of time of 72 years oh okay 72 years all right okay so like you know it's right like that's how um some people are connecting the census and I'm like oh yeah that's that's very and it's very important for a lot of us who would like to know more or maybe we didn't know about our family or our great great grandparents so it's it's good to know their journey as well yes no that's lots of so I'm glad you told us how long that the span is before it's released yes so that nobody's feeling that and and especially here where you have so many immigrants and people that come from countries where they wouldn't dare tell the government their business you know those people have to be made comfortable because so many of them especially in Chinatown where you have seven different Asian cultures in that little area and they have to be comfortable because some of them definitely don't want their government to know all of their business so now the questions the kinds of questions asked other than your name address your date of birth what other questions are asked so we also ask um so your name your phone number so we can follow up with you if there um any you know we want to follow up on anything that we probably missed out on or you forgot to include so your name um your phone number of course the address your raise and I think they ask I'm trying to grab my my copy here um so you can put your raise as well uh it's really however you identify so you can check if you'll feel like um you're if you're a um mix multiple races so please do um share that as well so you can check and you can write that down as well yeah and then um so there are nine questions I'm trying to remember them off the top of my head right now but the what else we ask gender or sex so male female at the moment that those are the options and then we're also asking um the what do you call that I'm trying to remember right now I'm sorry but there are nine questions is that do they ask um income whether you're working or any of those kind of places um we don't ask your social security number we don't in this big census we don't ask your income we don't ask your bank account information credit information um definitely if something like that comes up that is not the decennial census we do have other surveys that ask that um but we only do it in sample but not everyone for this decennial census we don't ask those questions so we're not gonna ask for your financial information just that's one thing too about fraud yeah um to prevent fraud what are the things that we're not asking the household um this coming 2020 since we're not gonna ask for money or donations and you will not be contacted in behalf of any political party so those are no no's for this coming decennial census so just to avoid any um scams or fraud um at home so and then if you have any questions you can call 8009238282 um or your any contact any of your local representative um to ask or inquire if if you are not if you're unsure about this person um asking uh about these questions so so the person that that comes they'll have identification that says who they are and what yes they will have a valid id um and then with their photograph they will have a department of commerce watermarks and exploration date um and i think i believe our director will have a letter as well and then i actually have a sample copy here i wish i shared it with um with you guys as well but maybe next time but here are the questions that we will be asking like just go back so how many number of people live in your household and then um if there are children in your household those kind um if it's an apartment a house or a mobile home and your telephone number and then um so yeah we ask the sex the age of of the person and then um you know your your race as well and then you can put that in the box check the appropriate box that um works out for you or that you know you identify with and yeah those are just um some of the basic questions in the form well now when we look at this overall how do you know how much hawaii has been getting from the fed since uh the 2010 as they this is the population of 2010 but that's been 10 years have we increased in population and pre-relation and or does the census have a mechanism by which they count uh every five years or to account for people uh dying moving whatever you and as community changes uh how do you keep track of those things so or do you so right now in terms of population according to this the state data center there they have like they have the state data center is actually a really good resource for this um state specific um statistics because they produce different reports that describes our demographics or economic situation as a state and even household situations but um right now we're on track uh estimated we are um growing in terms of money that comes into our community there's a good study george washington university counting for dollar study it really depends because it changes every year again um of how much money we we get from the federal funding um so around the last time it was over three billion dollars but that's big that study but it really changes so every count everyone counts everyone matters so that we can get our appropriate care for our i've just got out of time so can you give us the telephone number and the census uh web but one more time because we're out of time so your telephone number and the website thank you so you may contact me at eight zero eight eight nine two five one four one if you have any questions um regarding uh the census or if you want to host events uh to support your community to learn more about the census please check 2020census.gov slash jobs and we're also still recruiting so if you would like to serve your community please apply as well um on our website but there's so many resources there thank you so much well thank you and we'll see you next time