CENSUS 2020 CAMPAIGNS: POTENTIAL CONFUSION COULD UNDERMINE OUTREACH EFFORTS

Government entities across the U.S. are budgeting millions of dollars for large-scale marketing campaigns that address an expected  undercount in the Census 2020, a consequence of the political environment that has engendered a mistrust of government programs among hard-to-count (HTC) groups like Hispanics, immigrants, the lower-income, and similar groups.  To guide these campaign interventions, the Census Bureau developed the Planning Database, which includes an abundance of demographic characteristics and two predictive indicators of potential response to the Census 2020.  The lack of documentation about the appropriate use of the Planning Database, coupled with the potential lack of knowledge and experience with Census Bureau data, can lead to confusion and possibly misguide users in selecting the appropriate HTC communities for their planned intervention. In a case study of Dallas County, Texas to identify high-priority census tracts using the 2019 Planning Database, we found that a different set of census tracts are produced when using the Low Response Score (LRS) when compared to the Self-Response Rate (SRR), and that the resulting demographic profiles also differed along key demographic characteristics relevant to defining HTC communities. Implications are discussed for improved planning of Census 2020 campaign interventions when using the Planning Database.   Read report at:  http://www.rinconassoc.com/category/publications