Press Webinar: Using New Tools to Identify Trouble Spots, Technology Pitfalls in 2020 Census

Census and Data Equity News 10.24,17

WASHINGTON – On Thursday, October 26 at 1:00 p.m. ET, The Leadership Conference Education Fund (The Education Fund), the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality (GCPI), and The Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) will host a webinar for media to introduce a searchable online map that identifies communities whose demographics and other characteristics qualify them as “hard-to-count” for purposes of the 2020 Census. Speakers will also present a new report that highlights opportunities and risks for the first “high-tech” census.

Communities at risk of being undercounted at disproportionately high rates in the decennial census are referred to as “hard-to-count” and include communities of color, urban and rural low-income households, immigrants, and young children. Already, budget shortfalls are placing census operations designed to reach groups that have been historically underrepresented in the census at risk, threatening fairness and accuracy. A fair and accurate census is among the most important civil rights issues of our day.

Steven Romalewski, who oversaw the development of the interactive map, will highlight how to use the online map to identify and gather relevant data on hard-to-count congressional districts and communities. The online map, developed by the mapping team at CUNY, is searchable by congressional and state legislative district or simply by clicking on a geographic area to identify census tract data about population, self-response rates in the 2010 Census, and reliable Internet access, an important factor for the 2020 Census, when the Census Bureau will urge most households to fill out the census form online rather than use a paper questionnaire.

The webinar will also touch on the recently released Education Fund and GCPI report, “Counting Everyone in the Digital Age: The Implications of Technology Use in the 2020 Decennial Census for the Count of Disadvantaged Groups.” The report addresses how proposed Internet and automation technologies will affect the 2020 Census for groups at risk of being undercounted. It also includes actionable recommendations for Congress, the administration, and community leaders.

Interested reporters should register here.

WHEN: Thursday, October 26 at 1:00 p.m. ET

WHO:

  • Corrine Yu, managing policy director, The Leadership Conference Education Fund
  • Steven Romalewski, director, The Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) Mapping Service
  • Indivar Dutta-Gupta, co-executive director, Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality