With the kickoff of the census less than one month away, the bureau is ramping up recruitment efforts

The count for the 2020 U.S. census will officially begin in less than a month and as it nears officials are ramping up recruitment efforts for census takers.

“It’s crunch time,” said Sharon Robinson, co-chair of the Greater Milwaukee Complete Count Committee. “Our communications team has really been working hard behind the scenes. You will see massive visibility.”

Gina Manley, partnership coordinator for the Chicago Regional Census Committee, said the bureau is trying to hire locally and emphasized the position’s flexible hours and the pay, which ranges from $17 to $24 statewide.

“We want it to be neighbors knocking on neighbors’ doors,” she said.

A U.S. Census Bureau representative estimated that Milwaukee County is short about 1,000 census takers while Wisconsin overall is short more than 13,000.

A report from the Census Bureau Regional Chicago Office showed that as of Feb. 16, more than half of the state's counties are at 50% capacity or higher. However, in some counties, there is a serious shortage. For example, Dane County is more than 3,000 census takers short of its 6,934 goal and La Crosse County has less than half of the census takers needed to meet its 1,919 goal, according to a Census Bureau representative.

Milwaukee County has reached 87% of its goal.

Jeanine Beasley, media coordinator for the census' Chicago region office, said the bureau will reassess where counties are at in meeting their goals in mid-March, but noted that they overestimate shortages to compensate for people who don't show up or quit.

“We have staff deployed to help promote recruiting and invite those who have been census takers in the past to reapply,” she said.

Recruitment began in November, Beasley said, and the bureau is striving to meet 100% of recruitment goals. However, she added that shortages might arise due to fewer people in need of work in a robust economy.

Recruitment ramps up

The Census Bureau will hold multiple open houses and recruitment events, such as the one it held Feb. 11.

RELATED:The count for the 2020 Census begins next month. Here's what you need to know

Another way the census is combating the shortages is by recruiting community organizations to encourage their clients to take the census.

Roughly 30 organization representatives gathered at a census training event earlier this month to learn how to inform the people they serve of the merits of the census and also recruit employees.

The organizations represented ranged from the YWCA, Social Development Commission, Safe & Sound and Planned Parenthood to the Department of Aging, Consulate of Mexico, Ascension Healthcare, Pathfinders and Human Rights Campaign.

The event was hosted by the Milwaukee Complete Count Committee, which held a kickoff in October, around the same time that Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order to create a Complete Count Committee for the state.

The committees are supposed to emphasize reaching undercounted communities such as people of color, low-income residents, homeless individuals, single-parent households, individuals who speak English as a second language, rural communities, and foreign-born residents.

RELATED:Concerns of undercounting in Milwaukee loom ahead of oral arguments on census citizenship question

Robinson said they have trained more than 100 representatives to help in recruitment efforts.

Shortage of funds

The state is also approaching this year's census with fewer dollars than its neighboring counterparts.

Census funds are budgeted based on the preparation and execution of the census. In 2010, that figure for Wisconsin was $10.2 million in federal funds and this year it is $15.6 million. But despite the increase in federal funding, the census is operating without any money from the state.

The last attempt, a proposal by Gov. Tony Evers to add $1 million to the state budget for census outreach, was voted down by the Republican-controlled Legislature. There is still a slim chance the state's Department of Administration will be able to add funds.

By comparison, neighboring states have received both federal and state funds for census outreach. Last June, for example, Gov. J. B. Pritzker of Illinois signed an executive order allocating $29 million in the state budget for census outreach. 

Regardless, Beasley said, “We have the budget that has been allocated and we will work toward a complete count.”

State Sen. Tim Carpenter said the lack of state funding means they will have to get creative, using newsletters, flyers and putting information out at the voting booths.

“There's basically no money,” he said. "But we need to get it done.”

The process will get underway March 12, when instructions for taking the 2020 census by phone or online will be mailed out to 90% of households. Households will receive four such letters and the fourth will include a paper form. If the paper form remains unanswered, census takers — often referred to as "enumerators" — will go out to areas that have not yet responded.

The bureau’s website is listing jobs at 2020census.gov/jobs.

Contact Talis Shelbourne at (414) 223-5261 or tshelbourn@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @talisseer and Facebook at @talisseer.

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