By Joe Morey
News Editor
The LCO Tribe received a thank you letter from the Chicago Regional Director of the U.S. Census Bureau for their valuable partnership in making sure as many LCO Tribal Members were counted.
“Together, we ensured the Census had the most up-to-date address file, delivered paper questionnaires to rural areas, recruited workers during one of the lowest periods of unemployment, took on a global pandemic through unique virtual engagement, and engaged communities through Get Out the Count (GOTC) efforts that brought Census staff to historically undercounted neighborhoods,” the Letter from Marilyn Sanders stated. “Your valuable contributions will ensure critical planning over the next decade. Thank you for Making It Count!”
In June of 2020, a campaign began at LCO urging members to get counted because responses were low at the time, but due to the messages, the numbers increased. Nita Kemp, LCO’s representative to the Complete Count Committee for our area, said participation in the count is always going.
“There are employees that will be checking on vacant homes, addresses and fire numbers where they were unable to get a count on as of April 1, 2020,” Kemp stated. She said the current schedule points to April 30, 2021, for the completion of the apportionment counts.
Sanders stated in her letter to the Tribe with their support, the Region exceeded the National Self-Response Rate of 67% and had the highest self-response rate among all Regions, of 69.8%.
“In collaboration with more than 50,550 partners, that collectively held nearly 64,750 events and made more than 70,450 commitments, you exhibited enormous dedication, creativity, and support in developing outreach and marketing activities that engaged, educated, and encouraged households to complete the 2020 Census, particularly in historically underserved communities.
“Working alongside more than 2,015 Complete Count Committees, you and our many valuable partners hosted thousands of recruiting events to hire census workers that spoke the languages, understood the cultures, and lived within the communities they were tasked to count. Your efforts also ensured a successful Mobile Questionnaire Assistance (MQA) program across our Region, with more than 12,819 MQA events that assisted low-responding communities in completing their census questionnaires online and by phone,” The letter stated.
