The Votes Are In!
2023 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners → 
How Will The Complete Count Committee Target Hard Counting Areas In Pasadena For The 2020 Census?
News Aug 28, 2019
by
share with
Per a Census Bureau presentation to the City Council earlier this year, a few districts were undercounted up to 30% during the 2010 Census in Pasadena. – Photo by Alex Cordero / Beacon Media News
By Alex Cordero
The census has become a community effort in the City of Pasadena, and with the upcoming 2020 Census the Census Complete Count Committee (CCC) has set goals and objectives to target specific hard counting areas in the Crown City.
This comes as a result of a U.S. Census Bureau representative’s Powerpoint Presentation to the City Council on areas in Pasadena that were undercounted by up to 30% in the 2010 Census.
The Census Bureau has made it easy for everybody to have access to The Response Outreach Area Mapper (ROAM) at census.gov/roam. Per the Census Bureau,
“The Response Outreach Area Mapper (ROAM) application was developed to make it easier to identify hard-to-survey areas and to provide a socioeconomic and demographic characteristic profile of these areas using American Community Survey (ACS) estimates available in the Planning Database.”
This has become essential to identifying which areas of the city the CCC will primarily focus on to ensure an accurate count and provide formal outreach for the 2020 Census.
The CCC is the main resource of information for the census at a local level, that consist of public officials, community organization leaders, representatives from faith-based groups, business associations and representatives from public schools, to name a few.
Internal community resources are also combined with the CCC in order to join forces and focus on accurate counting for areas throughout the city, mainly prioritizing hard counting areas.
Lisa Derderian, public information officer for the City of Pasadena is part of the internal working team for the upcoming 2020 Census. She shared several insights into what the CCC will be doing differently to focus on community participation for the upcoming census tally.
“The Committee will focus on setting goals and objectives as we move forward into our 2020 Census planning phase. Specifically, committee members will be assigned to specialized sub-committees, prepare and adopt work plans, and among other things, coordinate messaging, promotional materials, and talking points to be used to inform and educate community members and residents ahead of the 2020 Census. This group serves as ‘Census Ambassadors.’ By starting early we hope to ensure a complete and accurate count. We encourage the public to let us know if they’re hosting a large event in which the City of Pasadena and census representatives can participate. Census data is vital in forming voting district boundaries to determine elected representation at the federal, state and local levels, a practice known as redistricting or reapportionment.”
She also shared further insight about the directives the CCC will be focusing on “To encourage community partners to increase decennial participation of those who are less likely to respond or are often missed” by using what the city calls the “3 Es.”
- Educate people about the 2020 Census and foster cooperation with enumerators.
- Encourage community partners to motivate people to self-respond.
- Engage grass roots organizations to reach out to hard to count groups and those who aren’t motivated to respond to the national campaign.
The upcoming 2020 Census will be the first census to have a new way to self-respond which will be via internet. And although the majority part of the 2020 Census will be available to self-respond online, all previous ways to respond will still be available for Pasadena residents according to Lisa. “There will be hard copy forms if requested and we encourage residents to go to our libraries and go on-line free.”
