CHARLESTON — With the 2020 Census just around the corner, state officials and community leaders are planning to make sure that every West Virginian gets counted.

The census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The U.S. Constitution requires the census to determine how people are living in the United States and participation is required by law.

The U.S. Census is celebrating its 230th anniversary in 2020.

The first questionnaires will be sent out starting in mid-March of 2020 and will be the first year households can respond online, though people can still respond by paper questionnaire or by phone. More than 95 percent of households will receive their questionnaire by mail, though census takers will also be going door-to-door to drop off questionnaires as well.

The primary purpose of the census was to determine how many seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives, but it means more than that now.

An accurate count can determine how much federal money flows to states and can help researchers and demographers in making sure minority and an under-represented population get access to resources.

COUNTING THE DAYS

April 1, 2020, is National Census Day, and a combination of a public and private agencies and organizations are coming together to make sure all West Virginians are counted, as well as to dispel any myths and conspiracies about the census.

The first meeting of West Virginia’s Complete Count Committee was held Nov. 15. The committee, formed by Gov. Jim Justice by proclamation on Aug. 2, was created to build awareness about the census and work with cities, counties and communities to educate the public about the importance of being counted.

The committee includes Justice, West Virginia’s congressional delegates, legislative leaders, officials with the state Department of Health and Human Resources and Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs, education and higher education officials and the Municipal league. The business community is represented with members of local and state chambers of commerce

The committee also includes non-profit groups, including the United Way, Philanthropy West Virginia, Volunteer West Virginia, the American Red Cross, the American Legion and the Salvation Army. More will be added later.

Jennifer Wells, executive director of the West Virginia Healthy Kids and Families Coalition, is a member of the Complete Count Committee. She also heads a 25-group grassroots coalition, CountMeInWV, the goal of which is to reach rural communities that often are hardest to count.

“There’s so much riding on the census,” Wells said. “So much of our everyday lives are impacted. Every part of your day-to-day life is governed in some way by the census.”

The CountMeInWV coalition has a three-step plan to encourage people to participate in the census. First, it’s easy to do with only 10 questions that should take about 10 minutes to complete. Second, it’s safe with the specific identifying information protected by federal law and prohibited from being shared with other state and federal agencies.

Lastly, it’s important, with West Virginia receiving as much as $2,755 per person in federal funding. The census determines funding for everything including healthcare, education, food and transportation.

Wells said the data also affects how non-profits and charities receive funding when applying for federal grants and private funding.

“For me, personally, as a nonprofit when I’m writing a grant report to show the importance for private foundations to invest in our work, it is based on reporting census numbers to events,” Wells said.

The challenge is educating the public, particularly rural and minority populations, on how important it is to answer the census questionnaire and how, by not filling out the census, they could be losing out on funding that could improve their local communities, Wells said .

“Explaining that to people is another big piece of why our coalition formed and how to build a message and how to become the trusted messenger for our communities where they learn how important it is…to their daily lives,” Wells said. “Folks that are living and residing in this country all need to be counted, no matter their citizenship or status.”

SUBTRACTING WEST VIRGINIA

The primary goal of the census is apportionment of congressional districts, though the data also is used by states during the redistricting process. Every 10 years, lawmakers in West Virginia meet in a special session when the census data is available to begin redrawing House of Representatives, state Senate and House of Delegates districts.

In 2010, West Virginia had a population of 1,852,994. The U.S. Census Bureau also conducts yearly population estimates. West Virginia’s estimated population on July 1, 2018, was 1,805,832, a 2.5 percent drop, or nearly 50,000 people.

Just 50 years ago West Virginia had five congressional districts. Today it has three, but according to Christiadi, an associate researcher at the West Virginia University John Chambers College of Business and Economics, it’s likely West Virginia will go down to two congressional districts after 2020.

“I’ve tried several scenarios and tried to calculate the probability of the state keeping a seat in the House,” Christiadi said. “it’s less likely that we will be able to keep the three.”

Christiadi attributes West Virginia’s population decline to several actors: West Virginia’s majority older population is dying off, the net migration of younger West Virginians and a reduced number of births.

“The death rate and the birth rate don’t really change much over time, so it’s going to take a while for this trend to turn around,” Christiadi said. “When we look at the other component, which is net migration, this is highly affected by what happens to the economy. When the economy is great and when there is job growth, then you will see more people coming in than moving out.”

According to 2010 census data, only 75.6 percent of West Virginia’s households mailed back the 2010 questionnaire, requiring in-person follow-ups by census takers. More than 24 percent of West Virginia’s population live in what are called “hard-to-count” neighborhoods, mostly in Southern West Virginia and pockets of the Potomac Highlands and North Central West Virginia.

“In 2010, we were among the states with the lowest response rates for the census,” Christiadi said. “It is very important for every one of us to try to respond to the census. We need to make sure that everyone, every West Virginian is counted…and that we don’t undercount our population. Everyone needs to work together to make sure that everyone responds to the census.”