title
Receive a verbal update on the status of the 2020 Census outreach effort
body
Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Resource Management recommends that the Board of Supervisors receive a verbal update on the status of the 2020 Census outreach effort.
SUMMARY:
The State of California Government Operations Agency (GovOps) allocated $145,572 in 2019 to Solano County to provide community outreach for the upcoming 2020 Census in order to better reach the local “hard to count” (HTC) population. In February 2020, GovOps allocated an additional $30,550 to the County for outreach, for a total allocation of $176,122. The County has contracted with Solano EDC to assist with this effort and work with the cities and community groups to facilitate maximum participation in the census. Significant progress has been made based on response rates to date. This report provides a status update of efforts to date and the county-wide strategy as efforts continue to ensure all residents are counted.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The costs associated with conducting the Census 2020 outreach will be recovered through the $176,122 total allocated funding from the state. The costs associated with preparing the agenda item are nominal and absorbed by the department’s FY2019/20 Adopted Budget.
DISCUSSION:
As previously presented to the Board, the state originally 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 allocated $145,572 to Solano County to utilize toward local marketing and outreach efforts. The Standard Agreement between the State and the County was executed on March 25, 2019. Due to staffing work load, Solano County has contracted with Solano EDC to take the lead in the community outreach effort and reporting. This contract was executed on April 2, 2019.
In early February 2020, the State of California authorized an additional $110,550 to Solano’s efforts. Our recommendation was to forward $80,000 to be utilized by the United Way Bay Area (UWBA), the designated Bay Area regional marketing organization, to be utilized for programs in progress and “mini-grants” targeting Solano County with an emphasis on Vallejo. The remaining $30,550 was to be utilized by the Solano EDC for additional media support, electronic media campaigns, direct advertising and marketing materials.
Throughout the contract period, the Solano EDC created both a Strategy and Implementation Plan, assembled and coordinated monthly Complete Count Committee meetings reaching over 40 members, guided direct marketing efforts, created a web page and social media campaign with a consistent pulse of information, participated at the regional and state level sharing information, best practices and metrics, and helped to drive dozens of outreach events throughout the region.
Summary of Outreach Strategy
There are a number of reasons why getting an accurate census count is important, but a critical one is that data from the Census provides important information for policy-makers to make critical future decisions on infrastructure, social program funding, development, education, etc. It is estimated that for every person not counted, the local and state government loses roughly $1,900 per person per year in revenue. This directly effects a local, state and federal agencies’ ability to provide much needed services.
Utilizing SwORD, a State developed mapping and data tool that identifies hard to count areas, the EDC was able to identify 21 Census Tracts in three jurisdictions that scored above the State median of the HTC Index of 37. These census tracts were located in three jurisdictions, Vallejo, Fairfield and Dixon. Their score ranged from 41 to 115. These 21 census tracts included 11 in Vallejo, 9 in Fairfield and 1 in Dixon. These tracts will be the priority areas to disseminate information.
SwORD identifies the top three key factors driving the HTC Index status. For each tract the EDC identified and tabulated these critical factors. In total, there were 13 factors within the targeted tracts. The top 5 in frequency included: unemployment, moved recently, households on public assistance, non-family households, and households below 150% of the poverty line.
Social media provides a strong marketing platform across demographics. The Solano EDC has contracted with a specialist that has a proven track record in both multi-media campaigns and long-term marketing efforts. Distinct social media content will be distributed on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to provide content as well as a platform for discussion.
Hard copy marketing materials have been distributed to strategic access points, events, and locations that have high visibility with hard to reach population pools. Content and design work have been a mix of those provided by Federal and State sources, as well as those created by our design theme following similar design standards and messaging.
The Solano EDC and the County of Solano have coordinated and implemented the Solano Complete Count Committee. Because the budget limits the efforts and ability to bring staff on to provide distribution in the field, outreach objectives and tactics have been implemented by members of the Committee. Members were strategically selected to be in position to distribute information reaching target audiences identified as HTC. Through the larger partnership of educators, faith-based organizations, local leaders, and other organizations, information has been distributed at local events, especially those that host communities that are known to be under-served and HTC.
The EDC utilized content, language translation, and materials already developed by the Census, State, and other organizations and jurisdictions shared to avoid redundancy and duplication of effort. It should be noted that counties and community-based organizations are actively sharing information, strategies, and ideas because everyone wins with a successful campaign.
Marketing Update
With the onset of Covid-19 and the following “stay at home” orders, like all of the other Census regions throughout California, the Solano EDC had to pivot its activities to reach the hard-to-count community. All sixteen designated Questionnaire Assistance Centers and Kiosks were temporarily closed, canvasing halted, and all Census-related events were postponed or cancelled. In effect, all promotional activities involving personal contact have been put on hold.
The Solano EDC immediately reached out to KUIC in Vacaville, to create a media campaign. The Solano EDC purchased ad space consisting of sets of four small commercials that were aired on a regular “rotation”, and Robert Burris performed one in-studio, and three on-phone interviews airing live during the early morning. These activities continue to occur.
In addition, the EDC contracted with an electronic media company to start direct emails carrying Census information to over half of the population of Solano County. As a follow up, we will be using geo-fencing technology to text Census instructions to people residing in low-performing census tracts.
U.S. Census Bureau and California Complete Count marketing efforts have already been initiated in multiple languages. These include television commercials, on-line posts, banners and signage, and other methods.
Because Vallejo and Fairfield continue to lag behind the County in response rate, even if only moderately lag, we have reached out to our regional partner UWBA, the Cities and organizations for more focused efforts including phone-banking, phone-“bots”, banners, and direct mailing.
Results to Date (updated 4/29/2020)
Solano County is performing very well regarding its self-response rate, that is the percentage of households responding voluntarily via on-line, phone or hard copy after notification.
Solano now ranks 9th in California for response rate, now at 60.4%. This is greater than both the U.S. and California rate, currently at 54.3% and 55.7%, respectively. While all cities are above both the U.S. and California rate, their performances vary:
Benicia 70.8%
Dixon 63.2%
Fairfield 59.0%
Rio Vista 63.6%
Suisun City 62.9%
Vacaville 63.7%
Vallejo 56.7%
With our regional partners, we are now focused on specific census tracts where responses remain low. This will continue as long as resources allow, as nearly all marketing budget will likely be expended by mid-June.
During April, the Federal government made the decision to postpone several due dates for the Census due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The reporting date of the final tally will now occur by April 30, 2021, as opposed to 12/31/2020. The due date of responses has been moved from June 30, 2020 to October 31, 2020. All field offices have been temporarily closed, and earliest possible opening date would be June 1, 2020. If possible, enumeration would be initiated at this time.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not to receive this update on Census outreach. This is not recommended as the Board has previously expressed its interest in obtaining greater public participation in the 2020 Census, and this update will inform the Board on the status of the effort.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The 2020 Census is conducted by the US Census Bureau. California GovOps contracts with the County to disperse the funding allocation. Solano EDC is administering the outreach effort through a contract with the County. Each city in the County provides staff assistance to the County’s efforts to form and manage a Complete Count Committee, which also includes support from local non-profit organizations. We have engaged the cities at various levels and have all supported this process.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION