Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Census 2010 topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Census official urges SFUSD help to count hard-to-reach populations
Summary
A city census representative told the board that San Francisco is a hard-to-count jurisdiction and asked schools to help distribute materials to students and families; staff noted the fiscal importance of accurate counts for district funding over the next decade.
A representative working with the U.S. Census and the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs briefed the board on the 2010 Census, stressing that San Francisco faces particular counting challenges and asking schools to help reach households before April 15.
The presenter said the city must count roughly 810,000 residents and described barriers including undocumented residents, people living in nontraditional dwellings and distrust of government. "We only have 1 shot to get this right. We have got to count every single person in San Francisco," the presenter said, urging distribution of bilingual materials and school-based outreach to K'012 students and their families.
District communications staff said the district was running robo-calls in English, Spanish and Chinese and sharing curriculum materials so students can bring census information home. The presenter warned that failing to count residents could cost the city and district nearly $4,000 per uncounted person per year in lost federal funding.
Why it matters: Census counts determine federal and state allocations affecting school lunches, Title I and other programs for a decade. Schools were asked to prioritize outreach to low-response areas, including the Southeast sector.
Next steps: The district agreed to continue distributing materials and the presenter offered further outreach resources and bilingual materials.
