The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

In this report:

Part III - Operational and Policy Recommendations for a More Accurate 2010 Census in the Gulf Coast 

2010 Census Policy: Recommendations to the President

Use the "bully pulpit" to boost census participation.

President Obama should use the unique power of his voice to help raise awareness about the importance of a fair and accurate census to the continuing recovery in the Gulf Coast region.  He can help allay fears about confidentiality and promote greater participation in the context of civic pride and engagement, especially among hard-to-count populations.  President Obama also should consider visiting the Gulf Coast region during the census, to highlight the administration's commitment to the region's full recovery and long term vitality.

2010 Census Policy: Recommendations to Congress

Hold a field hearing in the Gulf Coast region as soon as possible to examine the barriers to achieving an accurate and fair census in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and to evaluate the steps being taken to overcome those obstacles.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund has worked with its community partners in the Gulf Coast region to bring increased attention to difficult conditions that could adversely affect the accuracy of the 2010 Census. (This report is a continuation of our efforts to bring attention to the need for more focused attention to the particular challenges to getting an accurate count in areas still recovering from Katrina.)

LCCREF fully supports the requests of Gulf Coast advocates who have already called on the congressional oversight committees to hold a field hearing "to fully air and address these concerns during the final months leading up to the 2010 count."  Forty-four service and advocacy organizations in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama signed the July 22 letter (included as Appendix A), which was copied to all members of those states' congressional delegations and to Marc Morial, chairman of the Census Bureau's 2010 Census Advisory Committee and a former mayor of New Orleans.

Congressional overseers should schedule such a hearing as soon as possible, to gauge the progress of census preparations along the Gulf Coast, the suitability of special plans developed for Katrina-impacted communities, and the sufficiency of fiscal resources devoted to the Gulf Coast enumeration, and to give state and local government and stakeholder organizations an opportunity to have their concerns aired and addressed publicly.

Authorize a federally funded special census in 2012 or 2013 in designated Gulf Coast communities still recovering from Hurricane Katrina during the 2010 Census.

In some communities, population growth or shifts in the years between decennial censuses can be so significant that a local government (usually a city or county) will request a "special census" to capture the demographic change in official statistics that can then be used in federal and state program formulas that rely on decennial census numbers to allocate funds. (These special census figures do not affect congressional representation.)

The Census Act (Title 13, U.S.C., §196) provides for such a special census at the expense of the requesting jurisdiction; the section provides that the results "shall be designated 'Official Census Statistics'."  The Census Bureau has developed detailed rules and procedures for conducting these intercensal enumerations, which can include all of the data gathered in the once-a-decade census.

The Obama Administration is working with Congress to provide for greater flexibility in community development programs and Road Home, so that displaced residents can finish rebuilding their homes or transition more quickly from temporary housing to safe, affordable rental housing.  Congress should evaluate the status of recovery in the 117 FEMA-designated counties in 2011 - 2012 and determine the appropriate geographic area to include in a special census.

Encouraging signs of continued population and housing renewal suggest that Greater New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities in the hurricane disaster areas would benefit from a special census. The inadequate response in the immediate aftermath of Katrina and the numerous bureaucratic failures that contributed (and continue to contribute) to the drawn-out recovery period more than justify a federally-supported special census. 

2010 Census Operations: Recommendations to Census Officials

Immediately appoint a senior-level Gulf Coast Census Coordinator to oversee final preparations and census operations in Gulf Coast communities still recovering from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Census Bureau should appoint as quickly as possible a senior-level manager, based either in the Dallas Regional Census Office, a large local census office in southern Louisiana or Mississippi, or even in a donated local government office space (such as New Orleans City Hall), to coordinate final preparations and census operations in Katrina-impacted areas along the Gulf Coast.

Establishing a high-level position focused exclusively on regions recovering from the catastrophic 2005 storms would demonstrate a necessary sense of urgency about the unique and widespread barriers to achieving an accurate census in this area.  The coordinator could bring renewed, focused attention to the conditions in recovering Gulf Coast areas and how those conditions will affect census operations, as well as an overarching view of how the implementation of complex census activities are unfolding on the ground.

The Secretary of Commerce should ensure that the Census Bureau Director has a requisite, managerial-level position available, without displacing or reassigning needed, current managers, to facilitate the prompt appointment of a qualified individual.

The Gulf Coast Census Coordinator would be responsible for ensuring that all 2010 Census activities in communities recovering from the hurricane are appropriate for the unique conditions left in the wake of this catastrophic event, and suggest ways in which preparations and operations could be improved or modified to ensure the most accurate, inclusive count possible.  For example, the coordinator should work with community-based organizations to ensure that local census offices hire field staff indigenous to the communities in which they will work, to take advantage of local knowledge and to create an atmosphere of trust among hard-to-count populations. 

The coordinator would serve as the "point person" for the Census Bureau Director, Associate Directors for Decennial Census, Field Operations, and Communications, and Dallas and Atlanta Regional Census Directors, on issues related to 2010 Census operations.  And just as importantly, the coordinator would serve as a "go to" person for state and local government officials and community leaders who are working to promote an accurate census.

Increase cooperation with the U.S. Postal Service to ensure an inclusive address list at the time of the census. 

The Census Bureau should work closely with U.S. Postal Service officials in Gulf Coast communities in the months remaining before the enumeration starts, to identify housing units that become habitable due to completed renovations or rebuilding under the Road Home program, as well as new developments completed (whether vacant or occupied at the time of the census) before April 1, 2010. 

The USPS can help regional and local census office staff locate addresses that start receiving mail or that are newly registered to receive mail, even if it is not clear that occupants have moved in.  This will be particularly important for larger housing developments, such as the public housing projects under construction in New Orleans Planning District 4, where all units might not be occupied by the time of the census but in which all units meet the Census Bureau's definition of a "housing unit."

The Census Bureau also should explore the feasibility (operationally and fiscally) of a cooperative arrangement with the U.S. Postal Service in Gulf Coast communities designated as Update/Leave areas for the 2010 Census, under which letter carriers could be assigned to accompany census workers as they deliver questionnaires and "update" address lists, to help identify new, hidden, or otherwise off-list housing units to include in the census.

Seek assistance from the Mexican Mobile Consulate – and similar consulates from the home countries of Gulf Coast immigrants and migrant workers – in promoting census participation among these hard-to-count populations.

While achieving an accurate enumeration of migrant workers and immigrants generally is one the greatest challenges facing the Census Bureau nationwide, circumstances in recovering Gulf Coast areas may present an especially high bar to overcome, as migrant workers and their families struggle to navigate basic living routines in less-than-fully-functional communities that had not been home to large numbers of migrant workers before the hurricanes.  Mexican Consulate staff could work with local immigrant rights and service organizations to promote census participation as safe, easy, and important to the region's continued recovery.

The Census Bureau should consider special advertising materials for the 2010 Census in targeted Gulf Coast areas designed to address the unique set of circumstances and concerns associated with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

The 2010 Census paid media campaign will use a wide range of creative materials, conveyed through television, radio, print, electronic, and the Internet to educate, motivate, and cajole Americans to participate in the decennial count.  The Census Bureau and its contractor team developed the core message – that census participation is safe, easy, and important to one's community and family – based on extensive qualitative and quantitative research that included focus groups and copy testing in selected cities across the country.

While the core messages and general information planned for the advertising campaign undoubtedly are appropriate for Katrina-impacted areas, the high level of frustration, disappointment in the government, widespread dislocation and neighborhood upheaval, and ongoing recovery suggest that additional messages and Gulf Coast-specific information may be needed to motivate residents to respond to the census.  Many households in Update/Leave areas might be surprised to receive their questionnaires from census workers rather than in the mail.  The public disagreement over census residence rules might, at best, lead to confusion among people still in the process of returning to their pre-Katrina neighborhoods and, at worst, cause a backlash against the Census Bureau that dampens participation.  The government has let us down once, the thinking might go; how would responding to a questionnaire that doesn't even ask about our "real" home help our community?

Messages developed specifically with Katrina-displaced residents in mind, and conveyed through both traditional communications avenues (local television and radio stations and print publications, for example) and partner organizations serving populations most severely affected by the storm -- could help address the disappointment and capture the hopes of people who have overcome shocking adversity and are moving tentatively towards a brighter future.

Allocate additional personnel and fiscal resources, if necessary, to address greater-than-expected difficulties in conducting the census in the Gulf Coast region.

Despite careful planning to address the unique conditions in the region, the Census Bureau is likely to face some of its greatest challenges during the census in communities still undergoing rapid transformation and growth in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Unexpectedly rapid population and housing unit growth in the final months leading up to the count, coupled with shifting residential patterns as redevelopment continues, could strain the personnel and fiscal resources – for example, for advertising and Questionnaire Assistance Centers – allocated for Gulf Coast areas.

The administration has requested, wisely, a large contingency fund for Fiscal Year 2010 to address unexpected problems with the census and unanticipated conditions that make the count more difficult.  Senior Census Bureau officials should work closely with their Gulf Coast Census Coordinator and with regional office managers to identify developing problems early and to allocate sufficient additional resources quickly as circumstances warrant.  For example, "Katrina refugees" in the process of moving home might be confused about their true residence on Census Day, requiring expanded questionnaire assistance to address widespread public concern and to encourage full and accurate participation.  The Service-Based Enumeration in late March, which includes enumeration of people without a usual place of residence, might require an expanded effort and workforce to reach homeless individuals sleeping in the many remaining abandoned and damaged structures in the hardest hit counties and parishes.  More generally, with respect to individuals and families displaced both by natural disasters such as Katrina and because of the economic crisis, the workload for follow-up with large households might be greater than projected and require additional resources to ensure full inclusion in the census.

Looking towards the future, LCCREF would be remiss if it failed to highlight the extraordinary contribution of community-based organizations (CBOs) in raising public awareness about the census and promoting participation among the hardest-to-count segments of the population.  The Census Bureau has recognized the pivotal role these organizations and their respected leaders play in conveying the importance and confidentiality of census response, by establishing the 2010 Census Partnership Program and actively seeking cooperation from national, state, local, and neighborhood groups.  While CBOs often represent the most trusted voices in their respective communities, they are not likely to have the financial resources needed for extensive outreach and promotion activities.  The Census Bureau makes modest, indirect grants available, upon request, to assist official 2010 Census partners with outreach activities and events, but many CBOs are unaware of this program or have difficulty finding information about the application process.  As they consider methodological and operational improvements for the 2020 census, Congress and the Census Bureau should explore the possibility of establishing a broader, larger program of direct grants to assist partner organizations with their invaluable work to educate hard-to-count constituencies about the census and encourage full participation.

Next Section: Appendix A