 Hello and welcome to another episode of Into the Issues. I'm Steve Pappas. I will be your host. Today, I am honored to have Eloise Reed, who is the census coordinator for the Community Action Councils around the state. Eloise, thank you for being here. Thank you so much for having me. I'm happy to be here. 2020 is the year that the census needs to be done again. It's a constitutional mandate. I think people often take it for granted, but there's a lot riding on the census being done and done properly. And you've been hired, essentially, by the Community Action Councils to do what exactly? So, I am working as a coordinator for outreach and trainings to promote and encourage the populations that we serve as Community Action Partners or Councils across the state. And I am promoting the 2020 census. I am trying to train as many of the Community Action Partners staff as possible. So, I am working, I'm based in the Barrie office, the Capstone Community Action office in Barrie. And that's the central Vermont region they serve. We serve Barrie, Montpelier, up to LaMoyle, and then a little bit farther south. And then I'm also working with all of the four other ones. So, there's the Southeastern Vermont Community Action Partner. And they cover the Brattleboro region and up a little bit. And then there's Brock, the Bennington, Rutland Opportunity Council, I believe, is the... Yeah, they just go by Brock. Yeah, they go by Brock. Even on their website. You look for it, it's exactly what it is. So, they are also a Community Action Partner. And then there's CVOEO, the Champlain Valley Opportunity Economic Council, I believe, something like that. They also go by CVOEO. And that's the Burlington region. And then there's the Northeast Kingdom Community Action, NECA. An easy acronym that actually works, yeah. And so, you're working with each one of those Community Action Councils to make sure that, in particular, they are working with you to count the population served specifically by community action. And that's more commonly known as the under-accounted population. Yeah, or the hard-to-count population is what people are calling it. So, there are complete count committees that are formed across the state of Vermont. There are 22 that I know of so far. And we're trying to form more. So, we would like to have probably a few more in the Central Vermont region. Because we have one right now that's predominantly berry focused. So, it would be nice to maybe have two or three more meetings with other locations, maybe in Montpelier, some in the Matterer Valley, some in LaMoyle. And we also are trying to get complete count committees happening in the Northeast Kingdom. Complete count committees are a grassroots organizing strategy that the Census Bureau nationally has kind of played out and rolling out across the entire country. And the Community Action partners, we would like them to have a strong presence on each complete count committee. And we would like them and the ambassadors. So, there's me, I train all these ambassadors. And our ambassadors are hopefully going to be on every complete count committee. Kind of, yeah, as a way to represent the hard-to-count population. And, you know, that's because each CAP agency works directly with low-income populations. We have a lot of different programs. And so, all of those programs directly interface with a lot of the population that is defined as hard-to-count. I can go into that or hard-to-count. Our folks that are really kind of like traditionally underrepresented or are overlooked a lot of the time. I always am curious about the term hard-to-count because I wouldn't say all of the people in that list don't want to be counted. It's just that a lot of the time their voices are overlooked. So, LGBTQ populations, low-income populations, elderly populations, rural populations. The ages zero to five is another really undercounted group of people. So, young pre-K children. Homeless, transient, yeah. So, there's a lot of people. Let's back up a second and tell people why it's important to have the complete count. Okay. So, historically, people of color and all those folks I was just mentioning, all those populations have been undercounted. And people who have addresses and access to communication and are more visible. So, those are like whiter, wealthier people, have actually been over-counted in past censuses. And so, it's really important for all of the country, but in Vermont specifically, to make sure that each person is counted because there are federal taxes that we all pay if all of that money is leaving the state of Vermont and then redistributed basically. There's $675 billion that the 2010 census was able to distribute. And it has to be distributed equitably and that is based on the population, that's based on the demographics, that's based on the numbers in Vermont. So, we want that money coming back to our state. And if it doesn't come back to our state, it's going to go somewhere else where they maybe did a better job of counting every person. So, we want to make sure that every 600,000 plus Vermonters are counted and they all fill out the census in various forms. We can talk about that later, but we want them to fill out the census so all of that federal tax money that you're already paying is coming back to our state for things like roads, road maintenance, hospitals, rural hospitals, schools, food stamp programs, Medicaid, school lunch and school breakfast programs, Head Start, the pre-K, free pre-K programs for Vermonters. So, a lot of really important programs depend on getting an accurate number of people counted and then that dollar amount comes with it. So, the bottom line is we don't want to risk leaving money on the table. Yeah, exactly. I mean, because we don't want that money to go somewhere else and it's my understanding that for every person who is counted, it's a few thousand dollars that is left behind. It's two thousand eight hundred and thirty dollars per person per year. So, twenty eight thousand dollars that goes unclaimed. Over the course of the decade until the next census. Until twenty thirty, exactly. And there's, I actually have like, there's, yeah, so two point five billion that comes back to Vermont in fifty five large federal spending programs. So, the community action partners, we get a lot of funding from the community services block grant. And that's a huge chunk of that projected money. And I think in 2010, actually, we were undercounted. So, that two point five billion could have been more if we had an accurate count. Eighty percent of Vermonters, eighty one percent of Vermonters responded to the two thousand ten census. And what we would like is for that to be increased to an eighty three percent. So, by two percent. We're hoping for for the twenty twenty census. And the timeline here is, it's a crunch. Yeah. I mean, let's talk a little bit about that because it's, it is coming right up. It is coming right up. In some ways, you know, with our kind of like fast paced world, it does help to kind of get all this information right now before you actually receive the census information in the mail. Because there are, you know, it's been rolling out slowly. But right now we are kind of in that exciting time to be able to promote the awareness for people to know what the census is and to find out all about it and find out the different ways that they can take the census. But so the way that I have been thinking about it is all of February until March 12th is like the awareness, the times that we're sharing on all social media platforms. We're doing radio bits, the statewide Complete Count Committee, which has some partnerships with the UVM and the state librarians organization. They have some money to do some promotion materials with Vermont Broadcasting Association. So there's going to be some local radio ads with some trusted voices of the community, which will be cool to hear. So hopefully those will start rolling out pretty quickly. But so up until March 12th is kind of this big awareness push. And then if you have an address, you will get a little mailer in your mailbox. And it's going to have the three ways that you can respond before someone knocks on your door. So the first way is this paper traditional fill out a paper form and mail it back. That's the first way. The second way is you can call and you can do it on the phone. So that's exciting. That's a way to kind of open up access to a lot more people. And there are 12 different languages that you can call. And someone, a live person will answer the phone in that language. And I believe all those numbers will be listed on the mailing. And then the last way is to do it online. So you can go if you have internet access, if you have a computer, or even if you have a library where you use a computer or the internet, there are ways to enter the website and you'll be able to fill out the census online. And to be clear, you have to fill out the census. You can go and have somebody assist you. But you can't let somebody else fill out the information for you. Yeah, exactly. I mean, there are some exceptions. If you can't read or can't write, there are going to be ways for people to help you fill it out. But of course, yeah, the information that you're providing is what you're saying, at least, and hopefully what you're writing or entering in or saying on the phone at most. You do have to do it yourself. You don't want inaccurate information and you definitely don't want people to feel like they don't have a voice when they're filling out the census. There are ways that people can assist you. And your kids aren't going to get a form. It's by address. Exactly. So this is important. It's every resident in the U.S. It's not every citizen. It's every resident. You do not have to be a citizen of the U.S. to fill it out. And in fact, that is, you know, a group, another group that I didn't mention earlier, undocumented people, immigrants, people who don't have citizenship, has probably gotten the most kind of media attention in the past year regarding the question around citizenship, the Trump administration trying to enforce the Census Bureau to add a citizenship question on the census. And that was not successful. There is no citizenship question on the census. So what that means is that if you are not a citizen, you can still fill out the census. And in fact, you should still fill out the census because a lot of those programs that I mentioned earlier, Section 8 housing, I did not mention earlier, but SNAP, Medicaid, those programs are available and should be taken advantage of by people who need them the most. And so, you know, a large number of undocumented people and then even New Americans in Vermont, we have a really large population of New Americans who may not speak English or maybe even one of those 12 languages that's on the phone, but there are 59 languages that you can take it online, which is cool. So like the Burlington-Wanooski area and their hiring translators as well, which is also exciting. So if you are from a group of people that speaks a different language other than English and you can speak both languages and you want to translate, you get paid for your time and help. So that's pretty exciting. So there's plenty of opportunities for people to take the census and you all are trying to make sure that people are aware that it's coming aware of the timeline. Some people get a little freaked out because they think that the census means I have to fill out all this, it's going to be this big long form and I have to give all this personal information. That's not true. No, that's not true. There are nine questions on the census. And again, if you have access to the internet or can get online somehow, you can see an informational copy of the census beforehand. So if you know you have that misconception of, oh, it's going to take forever. It's going to take an hour. I have to fill out all these different questions and I don't know. I don't want to. I don't have time. A lot of people don't say they don't have time. It takes maybe 10 minutes. It could take even like a word minutes. If you are a single person in your house and you have one section to answer, you do your name, you do your address, you do your ethnicity, your race, your sex, your gender, your date of birth, and how you own the home you live in or rent. So how the home is kind of like how you are occupying the home. And all that information is very confidential. I believe there's jail time and a fine if someone is somehow associated with sharing that information. So security is a really big question too. Will my landlord find out if I say there are eight people living here and just two people on the lease? No, they won't. That's another group of people that traditionally would maybe say, I'm just going to throw this away and like, I don't want anyone coming to my door and like, just get it out of my face. I don't want my information shared with anybody. But no, it takes, it really does, it shouldn't take very long. And, you know, there are all these ways that it can be more accessible to you. Another thing is that most of the community action partnerships hopefully by the time the census is available to take. We'll have locations that they can go to. So I know the capstone and berry. We serve a lot of people who come to the food shelf or who are right now, we have a lot of the VITA program. I think tax assistance. Yeah, tax help and assistance. So there are ways, you know, that we're trying to meet people where they're at. So if they're coming already to capstone or to any other community action partnership, we're trying to have census days where we'll have a phone available for people and we'll hopefully have some volunteers to help with the phone or help to take it online on the laptop. So hopefully that's going to be happening across the state at all the community action partners and definitely at all the libraries. I don't have a super close contact with the libraries right now, but I know that, like I said, the statewide Complete Count Committee is working closely with the library so to basically offer the same type of service. So it's cool if you, you know, if you don't have a way to do it from your home, there are ways for you to do it in a public, more public setting that provides services. Now you did say before somebody comes to your door. I know. That is a, that's our market, that's our technique, yes. If you do not want someone to come to your door, if you don't want the government knocking on your door, there are ways to ensure that that won't happen. You just call, it takes 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or you do it online. And as I was saying earlier, there are way, you know, there are many places online that you're already kind of giving out a lot more information than the census even asks for. The census is non-invasive. That's like the way that, you know, people, we want to push that. They don't ask for a social security number. They don't ask for anything about your income. Yeah, your citizenship, yeah, they just ask, like, how many people are in this house? And who are they? It's just a count, you know. It's like the information gets taken and then we get to use it for the reports and for the accurate number of amounts of funds that we can actually get if we actually have the right amount of people counted. So if you want to avoid having somebody come to your house, you can do all these other things. But if you don't and you have an address, somebody's going to come to your house and they're going to knock on the door. Yeah, that happens. And they're going to ask. And it's also worth noting that you can be a census volunteer. You can be a census taker and be paid for it. Yeah, you're not volunteering. You're getting paid $20 an hour. And how do you do that? How do you sign up to do that? 2020census.gov. And you can, you know, remember that or we can link it somewhere. And you fill out a form. And I think it takes basically like just a few minutes. Oh yeah, so here's the nice, we can be census takers. But oh yeah, so they are really looking for people who if you have maybe a full-time job and you need a few more hours, you can do, you can do a part-time, you can do a full-time. And retirees are a great group of people who would like if they want to go door-to-door. And another thing I just learned from a census recruiter was that they are not going to make you go somewhere that you are not familiar with or work really far away, drive really long distances to do your job. They'll put you in your community. So that might be also nice because that is another way for a trusted voice to say, hey, I'm your neighbor. I live right down the street. I live a few blocks away. Let me, you know, let's fill this out so we can, I'm not sure if they can kind of do the same sort of like push. They just have to, you know, ask for the information. Right. But yeah, it's a really good job. $20 an hour, that's a great rate honestly. And yeah, I think, and they do a training and they do, they make you feel comfortable. So you're, when you take it, they're, yeah, I think it's like, I think that people are really looking for, this is a big push where we need more census takers in Vermont. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah. So again, the timeline is such that the census starts when? March 12th, okay, so March 12th to May 15th, you can fill out the census and send it in. April 1st is designated census day. What that means is that that's the date that they ask all the information to be recorded on the census. So on April 1st, how many people are living in your house? On April 1st, et cetera, et cetera, like that's the main day that they're pushing. And then people will start knocking on your doors in May. So if you haven't filled it out online on the phone or by mail, look for census enumerators to come and knock on your door. And that's, yeah, that will probably happen, that will most likely happen. It's required by, you know, it's in the Constitution to fill it out. And when does it officially end? July 31st. So, oh, another interesting thing is that this year with all this great like data, GIS mapping, you're going to be able to see in real time the number of people that have filled it out and have been kind of processed through the census who was ever receiving the data. And then that will help the census takers know where to target and know, okay, this person hasn't filled it out. Let's go make sure that we knock on this door. Or this block is traditionally undercounted. Let's make sure that we are knocking on those doors in May. And we'll be able to see that data coming back, which is kind of exciting. Yeah, that's very cool. You can see a map of it, yeah. Well, Eloise, we're actually out of time. Oh my gosh. So I told you, it goes fast. It goes fast. Eloise Reed, who is the census coordinator for the community action partnerships around the state. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. And keep watching because there's a short video that the census has put together that we are tacking on to the end of this program that gives you a lot of the same information that you just heard, but will probably give you a little bit more. And don't forget to do your census in 2020. Thank you and stay tuned until next time. What is the 2020 census? Every 10 years, the census records everyone living in this country. It's written in the Constitution and comes in a questionnaire that counts everyone who lives at your address on April 1st. The data can be used to inform funding for services like fire stations, schools, clinics and representation that affect your community. How will 2020 census data be used? Where there are more people, there are more needs for public services. That's why the census is used by the government to inform funding decisions each year. But that's not all. It's also used by nonprofits to inform services, by businesses to create jobs and even by students for school projects. Understanding how the population changes helps us shape communities across the country for the better. How does the 2020 census affect representation? There are 435 seats in the House of Representatives. These get distributed to the 50 states by population and an accurate census response helps your state get the right amount of seats. States with smaller populations get at least one, while states with larger populations might get more. How do I take the 2020 census? In March 2020, every address in the country will receive an invitation to complete a simple questionnaire. And there are three ways to respond. Number one, do it online. Number two, call by phone. Number three, send it by mail. For those who don't respond, a census taker from your community will follow up and assist you. Is my 2020 census data safe? After sending your census response, your personal information is kept safe. By law, it can't be shared with any other government agency, law enforcement or landlord. No one. So take your 2020 census with peace of mind. Shape your future. Start here. Visit 2020census.gov.