Facing a sooner-than-expected deadline to complete the U.S. Census count this year, the North Long Beach nonprofit DeForest Park Neighborhood Association will host a census-signing event on Aug. 22 to boost participation in the nationwide count.
The event will take place at the corner of South Street and Jaymills Avenue from 11:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Free food will be provided courtesy of All Food No Grease food truck for those who register for the count. Guests will be urged to wear masks and socially distance.
The original deadline for families to complete the census was Oct. 31–– a date that was recently challenged, and asked to be pushed back given the pandemic’s impact on door-to-door operations to accurately count households. However, Bureau Director Steven Dillingham announced in a statement last week that the bureau wanted to proceed with the count faster.
The sudden change came as a surprise to members of the neighborhood association, including Darlene Broom, the group’s fundraising chair and event organizer.
“OK, we can’t change it,” Broom said. “It means we have to step up our game to get as many people counted and registered as we can.”
North Long Beach was showing low census participation, according to members of the neighborhood group. The census response-rate map showed that some portions of North Long Beach had a 45% response rate. However, there were areas with 63-66% response rates. Broom said a problem concerning the low participation is the fast turnout of renters in the community.
“We have a lot of apartments–– the new tenants have been a challenge to come out because they’re new,” Broom said.
The neighborhood group hopes the public event will entice newcomers, who may recognize people participating in the event and feel more comfortable being registered.
Broom said the once-in-a-decade census count is important for her community to receive funding for local infrastructure, schools and local programs. She added that an incorrect count of the population could have consequences at the congressional level.
“If we don’t get a big enough count, we can lose a seat,” she said.