A lack of federal funding to gather local U.S. Census data has led to a Roaring Fork Valley-based partnership to ensure every person from Aspen to Parachute is counted.
“The national funding is much more limited than in 2010,” Kara Silbernagel, Pitkin County’s policy and project manager, told county commissioners Tuesday.
As a result, governments up and down the valley have contributed funds toward the Aspen to Parachute Complete Count Committee, which will attempt to get the word out through advertising, community centers, schools and good, old-fashioned knocking on doors, Silbernagel said.
The census effort is important because it is used to dole out money for roads, education, health services and other community development projects, she said. Each person counted equals about $2,300 in local funding.
New census data also could lead to redistricting and another seat for Colorado in the U.S. House of Representatives, Silbernagel said.
“Whatever we gain, another state loses,” she said. “That’s why California is spending millions to count (its population). It’s why it’s important we count (correctly) here in Colorado.”
This year marks the first time the census will be available online, and the federal government aims to invite 95 percent of households nationally to fill out the census using that method, Silbernagel said. However, in Colorado that number will be nowhere near 95 percent, she said.
That’s because census forms cannot be delivered to post office boxes. That means many areas — including Snowmass Village — will have people knocking on doors and delivering information about the census, she said.
“It’s not just Snowmass Village,” Commissioner George Newman said. “I’ve got a P.O. box in Basalt.”
The Aspen to Parachute project, which will be headed by the Aspen Community Foundation, will seek to get the word out, especially to school children, seniors, seasonal workers and the Latino community, Silbernagel said. Only a very small portion of Colorado is scheduled to receive bilingual census information.
The group wants to assure people that the census is safe and 100 percent confidential, with questions only including name, age, sex, date of birth, race of each person in the household, relation to the central person in the household, phone number and whether the home is rented or owned, she said.
The census will not ask for social security numbers, other personal identifiers or citizenship information. The U.S. Constitution makes it illegal to share the information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, the CIA, Homeland Security or welfare authorities, she said.
Official census takers who knock on doors will not be in uniform but will carry official badges, Silbernagel said. Residents can ask to see the badges, she said.
The official kickoff to the census is April 1, though online census surveys will be available starting March 12, Silbernagel said. All residents of the United States must participate in the census.
Go to A2Pcensus202.com for more information about the local effort and 2020census.gov for the national website.
