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Authorize the County Administrator to submit a letter to the California Government Operations Agency, California Complete Count-Census 2020 to opt-in to a County-Optional Outreach Agreement (Outreach Agreement); Adopt a resolution authorizing the County Administrator, or designee, to enter into the Outreach Agreement to use $145,572 in State funds allocated to Solano County to conduct outreach activities to promote participation in the 2020 Census; and Authorize the County Administrator to execute other agreements and contracts necessary to implement activities associated with the Outreach Agreement and state funding
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Resource Management recommends that the Board:
1. Authorize the County Administrator to submit a letter to the California Government Operations Agency, California Complete Count-Census 2020 to opt-in to a County-Optional Outreach Agreement (Outreach Agreement); and
2. Adopt a resolution authorizing the County Administrator, or designee, to enter into the Outreach Agreement to use $145,572 in State funds allocated to Solano County to conduct outreach activities to promote participation in the 2020 Census; and
3. Authorize the County Administrator to execute other agreements and contracts necessary to implement activities associated with the Outreach Agreement and state funding.
SUMMARY:
The U.S. Census Bureau and California Government Operations Agency (GovOps) is requesting local agency assistance and the formation of local Complete Count Committees to help market the 2020 Census and encourage participation in hard to reach communities. To facilitate this request GovOps is allocating state funding to counties, including $145,572 allocated to Solano County to use toward marketing and outreach efforts countywide. On November 13, 2018, the Board authorized the creation of a local Complete Count Committee for Solano County and provided general direction to staff to pursue funding opportunities. To take advantage of the $145,572 GovOps funding opportunity, Solano County must submit an “opt-in” letter and a Board adopted resolution to the California Complete Count-Census 2020, the GovOps’ office responsible for implementing Census 2020 activity, by February 8, 2019.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The costs associated with conducting the Census 2020 outreach will be recovered through the $145,572 allocated funding from the state. The costs associated with preparing the agenda item are nominal and absorbed by the department’s FY2018/19 Adopted Budget.
DISCUSSION:
Background
The U.S. Constitution mandates that a headcount occur every ten years, of everyone residing in: the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas of the United States. It includes people of all ages, races, ethnic groups, citizens, and noncitizens. The next census occurs in 2020. The goal of the 2020 Census is to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place. The population totals from this census will determine the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives. The totals are also used to redraw states’ legislative districts. The US Census Bureau is required to submit state population totals to the President of the U.S. by December 31, 2020. The totals also affect funding, and data collected in the census help inform decision makers how their community is changing. Approximately $675 billion in federal funding is distributed to states and communities each year based on census data. The Census Bureau further states that approximately $20,000 is lost by states and local governments for every person not counted in the census.
In addition to determining seats in the House, census data is used by the federal government to allocate funds in many areas:
- Title I grant funding to educational agencies (school districts)
- Head Start programs
- Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program
- Public transportation
- Road rehabilitation and construction
- Programs for the elderly
- Emergency food and shelter
State Complete Count Commission (SCCC) and Complete Count Committees (CCC)
California’s Complete Count effort is a statewide outreach and awareness campaign designed to encourage and support full participation by all Californians in the upcoming 2020 Census. The state is devoting significant resources to the campaign because California, with its very diverse populations that risk being undercounted, faces the greatest barriers in the nation to ensure an accurate count and therefore receiving its fair share of federal funding and Congressional representation. The state seeks to reach the more than 13.5 million total California households to raise awareness of the 2020 Census and motivate the hardest to count residents to respond.
The state is focusing its communication and outreach efforts on the area of greatest need: communities historically undercounted in the Census. These populations, called “hard to count” (HTC), are least likely to respond to the Census questionnaire without specialized outreach and assistance. The state’s goal is to meet or exceed the U.S. Census Bureau’s nationwide target to achieve a 60.5% self-response rate from people in all communities.
HTC census tracts are defined by the U.S. Census Bureau based on a range of housing, demographic, and socioeconomic variables that correlate with undercounts. They include population density, and percentage of:
- Immigrants and foreign born
- Linguistically isolated people
- Persons who are not high school graduates
- Person who are unemployed
- Number of vacant housing units in an area
- Specific ethnic and minority populations
- Renters and children
- Densely populated communities with multi-unit housing, public assistance characteristics
- Native Americans living on tribal lands.
To this end, the Census Bureau is seeking assistance from individuals, groups, and organizations that can help build awareness of and participation in the census. The Census Bureau and GovOps are promoting the formation of State Complete Count Commissions (SCCC) and local Complete Count Committees (CCC). The SCCC provides high-level oversight for a state’s participation in the 2020 Census. Further, the SCCC identifies and secures funding necessary to carry out the goal of getting an accurate count. They also work to encourage local governments to form CCCs. A SCCC membership may include: a governor, majority/minority leaders in the state house, heads of major counties, mayor of large cities, heads of major community/business organizations, or faith based/education/health care/media communities.
Solano County Funding Allocation
The state has budgeted $90.3 million to be allocated for statewide outreach and media campaigns, in an effort to reach the HTC areas and communities. Specifically, GovOps has allocated $145,572 to Solano County to utilize toward local marketing and outreach efforts. Accepting the allocation is optional on the County’s part, however, the Board directed staff to pursue funding options on November 13, 2018.
On November 9, 2018 California Complete Count-Census 2020 provided directions to the County outlining that access to the funding requires the County to submit a signed “opt-in” letter and a Board adopted resolution (attached), agreeing to enter into an Outreach Agreement and to use funds towards census outreach efforts. These must be submitted to the state by February 8, 2019. The directions and template standard agreement provided by California Complete Count Census 2020 are attached to this report. Once received, the state will prepare the Outreach Agreement for the County to sign. By choosing to participate in the Outreach Agreement, the County agrees to do the following:
- Prepare a Strategic Plan
- Participate in monthly in-person meetings or calls with the assigned State Regional Program Manager
- Prepare quarterly written reports
- Prepare an implementation plan
- Prepare a final report
Use of Funds
The funding is intended to be used for the marketing and public outreach related to the 2020 Census. Obtaining greater public participation in the Census, especially in hard-to-count areas, is of great importance to both the state and local communities. The funding must be used toward this effort. Funds can be used to cover staff time, procurement of consultants, advertisements, mailers, costs associated with developing and convening a Complete Count Committee or other work necessary to assist in the effort to obtain greater participation in the Census. Due to the current staff workload, it is anticipated that a consultant will be used to assist with the work.
Counties are the only local public agencies that are allotted state funding for outreach work. Since 97% of Solano County’s hard-to-count population is estimated to be located within the cities, it will be important to include city decision makers and staff in determining best methods to reach the HTC population. Given this, the County has had preliminary outreach to city managers and planning directors. Based on the preliminary outreach with the planning directors, it is likely that the best way to utilize the funding fairly throughout the County would be to procure a contractor to coordinate the CCC work effort with a focus on reaching the HTC areas in the cities and the Department is currently in the process of evaluating the potential to contract the work. The County, or its contractor, may also need assistance from city staff in outreach efforts. Once the Outreach Agreement is executed and state funding is available, then the Department will seek to obtain any necessary commitments from the cities towards this endeavor. Such commitment also includes appointing representatives to sit on the CCC, since, as to date, membership of a CCC has not been finalized.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not authorize submission of an opt-in letter or adopt a Resolution to enter into an agreement that would allow the use of state allocated funds. This is not recommended as the Board has previously expressed its interest in assisting the Census Bureau and GovOps in obtaining greater public participation in the 2020 Census.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The 2020 Census will be conducted by the US Census Bureau. California GovOps will be contracting with the County to disperse the funding allocation. Each city in the County has agreed to provide staff assistance to the County’s efforts to form and manage a Complete Count Committee. We have engaged the cities at various levels and have indicated support for this process.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION