A coalition of local agencies will help “get out the count” for next year’s census.
The Montgomery County Wellness Coalition is partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau to drum up awareness of the once-a-decade population count, which largely moves online in 2020.
The group will be tasked with planning community events and creating promotional materials encouraging residents to fill out the surveys and recruit workers to help tally people.
“The wellness coalition was chosen because it has a good cross section of different organizations in the community to get the word out,” said Samantha Cravens, Montgomery County Health Department health educator, who is helping coordinate the outreach.
Local governments appoint volunteer committees to work with the Census Bureau beginning in the months before the surveys are sent out. More than 10,000 Complete Count Committees were formed during the previous census in 2010.
Communities rely on an accurate count for the distribution of more than $675 billion annually in federal funds. Most people begin filling out the surveys in April.
The coalition will be trained to identify areas with low responses and places that are hard to survey and begin planning outreach events. A training session is scheduled for noon to 2 p.m. Wednesday in Bonzel Hall at Franciscan Health Crawfordsville.
Some resources have already been made available to promote the census. A Wabash College class launched a website with videos, brochures, posters and other materials about the census and how the data is used in local communities.
