Impact
WARD: Citywide
COMMITTEE: Vision
$ IMPACT: None
Title
Approval of a Resolution creating a Census 2020 Complete Count Committee to plan and conduct local educational initiatives, publicity, and promotional activities to increase community awareness and participation in the 2020 Census.
Body
ISSUE: The Complete Count Committee (CCC) will have a chairperson appointed by the Mayor and will recruit community leaders from all arenas of life to serve on the committee in order to come up with ideas for how to increase awareness of the upcoming Census 2020 and to encourage residents to self-respond in March and April when the Census begins.
The CCC will create outreach strategies and help create and coordinate educational initiatives in the community around the importance, safety, and ease of participation in Census 2020.
BACKGROUND: The Census 2020 is conducted by the US Census Bureau every ten years since 1790 and the next scheduled Census is scheduled for April 2020. It is the practice of local governments and the recommendations of the US Census Bureau and the State of Georgia to establish local Complete Count Committees, the purpose of which is to educate residents about and encourage participation in the upcoming census.
The Smyrna area had some of the lowest response rates in the county in 2010 and the US Census Bureau expects similar rates of low response in 2020. Undercounting proves detrimental to the Smyrna community, Cobb County, and State of Georgia as a whole as the census count impacts political apportionment as well as the allocation of hundreds of billions of dollars each year during the ten years between each census.
With the creation of a robust CCC, the City can improve educational awareness about the importance of the Census 2020 for the community and achieve higher rates of self-response in 2020.
The City also created a CCC in 2010 and is participating in the Cobb County CCC as part of their planning for Census 2020.
RECOMMENDATION/REQUESTED ACTION: Staff recommends approval.