Dane G. Hansen Foundation Trustees
The task at hand sounds straight-forward – counting each person (only once) and recording where they live. It is something that has been done in our country every 10 years since President George Washington was in the White House.
But this year, that simple task must be completed in the face of unprecedented challenges. In the midst of a global pandemic, taking a few minutes to participate in the U.S. Census may not seem important right now. But that thinking is wrong.
Getting a complete and accurate count of the people living in Northwest Kansas may be more important now than ever. There aren’t as many of us here as there used to be. We can’t afford to have anyone go uncounted.
Why does it matter? Census results are used in determining the distribution of federal funding. The Counting for Dollars 2020 Project completed by the George Washington University Institute of Public Policy shows that Kansas receives more than $6 billion a year in funding through the 55 largest federal spending programs for infrastructure and services. Health clinics, housing, schools, senior services, fire stations, job training, veterans’ programs and hundreds of other services and programs receive federal funding.
If only 1 percent of the population of Kansas goes uncounted, the state could miss receiving nearly $604 million in federal funding over the next decade, according to a Kansas Counts estimate.
At this point, we are much more than 1 percent short on the count. According to a Kansas Counts estimate, if the census were to stop where it was in mid-June, Kansas – which was at about 65 percent in its response rate – stood to lose $2.2 billion every year for programs that improve the quality of life for all of us. For each person not counted, Kansas loses more than $20,000 in government funding over the coming decade.
And it’s not just about money. There’s also the original purpose of the Founding Fathers when they mandated in the Constitution that a census be taken every 10 years. Census population figures are used to set the number of representatives each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as the number of electoral votes for each state during a presidential election.
The Big 1st Congressional District, which includes Northwest Kansas, already covers more than half the state. A count that is not complete could needlessly cause the district to grow even more, diluting our representation in Congress.
Data is also used for community planning and business development.
The good news is, it’s not too late to do something about it. Census deadlines have been extended. If you can still find those census letters in the stack of things you thought you would get to later, pull one of them out and go online to 2020Census.gov and respond. If you received a letter but can’t find it, you can still respond online. If you have a post office box address, and a census worker left information on the door of your house, use that to respond.
If you aren’t comfortable responding online, you can either fill out the paper form you should have received in the mail or call, 1-844-330-2020 or for Spanish language, 1-844-468-2020.
If you have a neighbor or friend you think might need help responding to the census, ask if you can help them. By law, information collected is CONFIDENTIAL and only used for statistics. It cannot be shared in any way that could identify you.
For more than 56 years, the Dane G. Hansen Foundation has been working to address the needs of Northwest Kansas, just as Mr. Hansen did during his lifetime. Mr. Hansen was a business and civic leader. He would recognize the importance of participating in the census. As trustees of his foundation, we also believe it is important, and we urge you to participate.
For the good of Northwest Kansas, please make sure to participate in the U.S. Census. Every one of us count. Let’s make sure we are all counted.
Dane G. Hansen Foundation Trustees
Doug Albin, Wakeeney; Carol Bales, Logan; Warren Gfeller, Russell; Robert Hartman, Hays; Cy Moyer, Phillipsburg; Brien Stockman, Logan