Every 10 years our country takes roll. Just as in Biblical days, we take an accounting of the number of individuals, including children, living in our country through the Census. When the final numbers are tallied, decisions are made related to the amount of federal funding each state receives for government sponsored programs such as schools, hospitals, roads, health care, and the number of members of Congress we are allowed to send to Washington. Businesses use Census data to decide where to locate factories, stores, offices, and new housing developments. Local governments use information from the Census to ensure adequate police and fire protection and emergency preparedness.
The Institute for Public Policy at George Washington University has done an extensive analysis of the role of Census data in federal funding entitled Counting for Dollars 2020. In FY 2015, more than $800 billion of federal money was distributed on the basis of Census-guided data. Programs familiar to most of us include the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) $69.5 billion, Every Student Succeeds (ESSA) grants to state and local educational agencies $13.9 billion, National School Lunch Program $11.6 billion, Special Education Grants (IDEA) $11.2 billion, State Children’s Health Insurance Program $11.1 billion, Head Start/Early Head Start $8.3 billion, and Medicaid $312 billion.
Counting for Dollars calculated that for every person not counted in Mississippi, we lost $1,014. According to a 2018 study of the last census, the undercount of children ages 0-4 in Mississippi in 2010 was 13,767, meaning our state lost $13,959,738 in federal funding in FY 2015. We could do a lot of good for children and families with almost $14 million, so we literally cannot afford to undercount our children!
Each state has formed a Complete Count Committee to inform residents that they should fill out the Census form. In Mississippi, Executive Order 1449 was filed with the Secretary of State’s Office creating such a committee and declaring all residents should complete the process in order to be counted. The State Data Center is taking the lead in the effort with assistance from MS Kids Count. The Mississippi YOU COUNT! Collaborative is a partnership between CPS and Mississippi KIDS COUNT at the Social Science Research Center and is focused on meeting with 2020 census stakeholders across the state and disseminating materials aimed at hard-to-count population residents, especially accurate counts of young children
Research has identified certain groups who historically have been undercounted within household types. A group we should be targeting is grandparents. Mississippi ranks second in the nation in the percentage of children 0-4 years who live with their grandparents. The percentage reflects approximately 17,795 children in the care of either one or both grandparents. Also noted as a high risk group in being undercounted are children who live in rural areas. The Hard to Count resource is extremely helpful in locating the most difficult geographic regions of our state and provides data from the last Census as to the number of families/individuals who responded.
Over the next few months we will be using social media and other communication tools to provide guidance on what schools and early care and education programs can do to assist families in completing the 2020 Census so we can reclaim funds that rightfully belong in Mississippi.