St. Mary’s County Complete Count Committee outlines hiring push, timeline and outreach plans for 2020 census

St. Mary's County officials and community volunteers on the Complete Count Committee on Dec. 5, 2019, were urged to help recruit census workers and to prepare for a concentrated outreach and enumeration push beginning in March 2020.

The county's director of Land Use and Growth Management, Bill Hunt, opened the meeting and turned the presentation over to Lee Ousbury, a Census Bureau outreach representative, who said the bureau is “hiring” and that St. Mary’s needed to add to its applicant pool. “We are looking for more than 700 people to be in the applicant pool. As of right now, we only have a little over 300,” Ousbury said, and he asked committee members and community organizations to publicize job openings and make space available for training.

The committee heard a detailed timeline from Ousbury for several Census 2020 operations. He said advanced contact for group‑quarters enumeration could begin in early February, with a group‑quarters enumeration window running April 1 through June 12, 2020; transitory location work (hotels, RV parks, tents and boats) was scheduled Feb. 24–March 21, 2020; and service‑based enumeration to count people experiencing homelessness will occur the night of March 31 into the morning of April 1, 2020. Ousbury emphasized coordination with service providers and law enforcement for the nighttime point‑in‑time count.

On outreach funding, Hunt said the county has applied for a state grant to support a multimedia advertising campaign and that the requested amount could be “as much as $20,000, but there's no guarantee.” Alyssa Costas, communications director for the county, said the proposed plan would split any award among print, television, radio and internet advertising and ask vendors to target identified hard‑to‑count census tracts.

Committee members reviewed subcommittee plans and local outreach ideas. The community services group proposed digital campaigns, pop‑up kiosks and low‑cost promotional items such as bracelets or “swag” to build local awareness. The education subcommittee said libraries and the College of Southern Maryland would post census information and encourage parents and students to respond; the business subcommittee reported agreements to place materials in grocery stores and discussions with utilities and a local broadband provider about bill inserts and public service announcements. The human services subcommittee said it will devote the December meeting of the county’s Homeless Prevention Board to census outreach and invited providers who work directly with people in group homes, nursing homes and shelters.

Presenters also flagged practical needs: Ousbury asked for help identifying centrally located training facilities to accommodate multi‑day training events beginning in January and February; the business committee discussed timelines for printed materials and suggested March–April as the most effective period to press for self‑response (invitations are mailed mid‑March). A committee member asked for a commonly cited figure about funding per person; Ousbury cited a Maryland estimate of “18,250” (no units specified in the meeting) and said he would send the link to the exact source.

There were no formal votes at the meeting. Committee members were directed to notify Sandy Green, county staff, of subcommittee meetings so the county could post notices in the board doc system and meet public‑meeting posting requirements. Lee Ousbury said he would be available to attend subcommittee meetings and to share materials and hyperlinks to Census Bureau resources, including 2020census.gov and censusmaryland.gov.

The committee scheduled its next full meeting for March 19, 2020, at 11 a.m. and asked subcommittees to coordinate with county staff so materials can be distributed to the group in advance.