ELIZABETHTOWN — Word spread earlier this week that the counting of people in the United States had begun in a remote part of Alaska with a 90-year-old.

It’s called enumeration, and for Bladen County, the date on the calendar to circle is March 12.

An update on the 2020 Census was given Tuesday night at the county commissioners meeting by Greg Elkins, the director of the Planning Department; Demorrio Thomas, with the Atlanta Regional Census Center; and Jan Hester Maynor, with the Lumber River Council of Governments.

Thomas hailed himself as the Paul Revere of this section of the country, saying, “The census is coming! The census is coming!”

There’ll be no one light or two hanging from a church though. Rather, the 21st century technology that envelopes our lives daily will be readily usable in this counting.

For the first time, responses can be made using the internet, by phone and by old-fashion snail mail. Data already provided will reduce the need for followup visits. The U.S. Census Bureau is also building an accurate address list and automating field operations.

Confidentiality of information, says the bureau, is important and steps are being taken to insure it.

Here’s five to know about Census 2020:

Is there a day?

Census Day is recognized as April 1.

But for Bladen County, enumeration day begins on March 12. This means the self-response operation that runs through April 30 will be underway.

There are mailings March 12-20, a reminder letter March 16-24, a reminder postcard March 26-April 3, reminder letter plus paper questionnaire April 8-16, and finally an “It’s not too late” postcard April 20-27.

Mail is not being sent to post office boxes, but is being sent to home — or 911 — addresses.

At stake?

There’s more to it than just simply knowing how many people live in the United States.

March 31, 2021, is the deadline for redistricting counts to be sent to all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The census helps reapportion the House of Representatives, determining how many seats each state gets. North Carolina has 13, but most observers feel the recent growth fueled by laws friendly to businesses will enable the Old North State to move to 14.

There’s also $675 billion spent by the federal government that is earmarked to programs in states and counties based on census data. Thus, a formula could be extracted to generate a per-person value on being counted in the census. Thomas said the census doesn’t “go in the weeds” that way, only using the whole number, but he said some entities have placed such a value at between $1,800 and $2,400.

Why?

In addition to the Beltway representation and federal funding, it’s in the U.S. Constitution.

Every 10 years, going back to 1790, the census has covered the entire country and everyone living here.

Thomas told Tuesday’s audience that includes those who are considered homeless. The Census Bureau’s count of that population has different methodology than the Point-in-Time count administered by and for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Jobs?

Earlier this month, the Lumber River Council of Governments said workers for the census were being sought and paying $14.50 per hour with flexible work shifts.

The way to apply is to go to 2020census.gov/jobs.

Two weeks ago, Bladen County had 47.9 percent of the workers it needed. At daybreak Thursday morning, that number was only up to 53.9 percent.

Does it cost?

There’s no cost to anyone to participate in the census, but there is a cost to the country to find out how many people live here.

The Census Bureau’s campaign to educate the public is working on about a $500 million budget. There are more than 1,o00 advertisements explaining the importance of what is happening, seeking to reach multicultural and historically undercounted audiences. Those begin about Feb. 10.

In Bladen County, the Planning Department led by Director Greg Elkins is spearheading the education efforts. Various community leaders have been meeting and will continue to do so, all in an effort to be sure all of the residents are counted. One of the county’s key reasons is financial, the allocation of federal money to programs that lessens the need to dip into dollars generated by property taxes.

The closer to 100 percent participation, the less chance commissioners need to raise taxes to fund programs that otherwise might be receiving a larger percentage of federal money that is determined in part by this census.

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Alan Wooten

Bladen Journal

Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @alanwooten19.