Dozens of jobs are becoming available locally as the U.S. Census ramps up in advance of next spring’s head count.
“We are looking for trusted voices in our communities,” said Josh Manning, media specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau.
There are a wide variety of jobs related to the census, it’s not just door knocking, added Philip Supino, an employee of the city of Aspen and part of the Aspen to Parachute Complete Count Committee.
“Our complete count committee is doing whatever it can to promote those jobs,” he said. “In Pitkin County, it’s a couple dozen temporary workers and valley wide, we expect multiple dozens.”
Aspen to Parachute Complete Count Committee has met twice in recent months in an effort to ensure everyone in the Roaring Fork and Grand River valleys are counted.
The committee is made up of individuals from government, nonprofits, the Latino sector of the population and others.
Membership continues to grow, Supino said.
The ad-hoc group meets again Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m. in the Third Street Center in Carbondale.
Topics on the agenda include identifying and reaching hard to count populations, public outreach and applying for Department of Local Affairs grant money to go toward the local effort.
“We expect a good chunk of change,” Supino said.
Manning, who works out of a census office in Montana, said he expects the government to hire many more people than the 2010 count.
“In 2010 in Montana, 700 people were hired for the state and this time around it’s going to be double or triple,” he said.
In March, households will receive a postcard in the mail encouraging people to go online and fill out the census form, according to Manning.
If people fail to do that, they will be reminded via a letter in the mail.
And if that doesn’t work, a census worker will come to their house for an in-person head count.
State and local government funding is based on census and population data, which is why officials are emphasizing the importance of being counted.
April 1 is Census Day. By July, the count will be over and the information will be processed, according to Manning.
The census data goes to the president on Dec. 31, 2020, and then onto Congress on March 31, 2021.
Manning noted that there is a ton of work to do from now until then.
“It’s a big process, a big undertaking,” he said. “It’s moving like a freight train and it’s coming faster every day.”