Siouxland Magazine - Volume 2 Issue 2
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What Are You Worth?<br />
By Alex Watters<br />
I recently was appointed to The<br />
Complete Count Committee<br />
as a representative from the<br />
City Council. This group was<br />
established as a partnership<br />
among the city, government<br />
agencies, and private industry with<br />
a goal of increasing the turnout for<br />
the upcoming census.<br />
One of the interesting<br />
questions that was posed early on was, “what is a<br />
person worth?“ Not in the philosophical sense about a<br />
person’s intrinsic worth, but more of a financial question.<br />
What does each person represent in terms of federal dollars<br />
in our community?<br />
It is estimated that in Iowa and Nebraska each individual<br />
represents at a minimum $4,400 per year. That means,<br />
if 100 people in Sioux City go uncounted, and since the<br />
census data is for a period of 10 years, Sioux City would<br />
not receive over $4.4 million of federal funding. This is your<br />
tax dollars that should be coming back to our community,<br />
but won’t if we don’t encourage our friends, families, and<br />
neighbors to “count“ themselves. This is money that can go<br />
toward schools, roads, hospitals, emergency services, etc.<br />
Therefore, it doesn’t matter whether you are white, black,<br />
or brown, we need to make sure our numbers are accurate<br />
and reflect the amount of people that call <strong>Siouxland</strong> home.<br />
Some other questions you may have about the census:<br />
What is the timeline?<br />
March 12–24, 2020-- postcards are mailed out.<br />
April 1 is “Census Day“ where you reside on April 1 is where<br />
you should register.<br />
How do I complete the census?<br />
You can use the online portal that opens on March 12.<br />
The online version is offered in 59 languages. You can<br />
complete it by phone where 12 languages are available<br />
via interpreters or fill out the paperwork that will be mailed<br />
to you and send it in.<br />
It is nine questions and should only take you 5–10 minutes<br />
to fill out, depending on how many people are in your<br />
household.<br />
What can I do to help?<br />
Talk to everyone you know about filling out the census.<br />
Ask your employer if they would be willing to send out a<br />
companywide reminder explaining the importance of this<br />
information.<br />
Volunteer with organizations that are assisting with this<br />
effort.<br />
Work part-time to interview residents and have them<br />
complete their census information or to simply drive<br />
around and update/verify addresses and electronically<br />
lists. These jobs have flexible hours and pay more than<br />
$18 per hour.<br />
When will we know the results?<br />
The results will come out in April 2021.<br />
Have questions yourself?<br />
Visit sioux-city.org/2020census or 2020census.gov<br />
The City Council is fighting to fix our roads, build more<br />
parks, and improve our public safety while keeping our<br />
taxes low. However, this is an example of where we need<br />
your help. Census data is used to distribute $1.5 trillion<br />
of federal funding annually to states and communities.<br />
We need that money to support all these projects and<br />
continue building a community we are all proud to call<br />
home. So, if you are looking to make a difference in your<br />
community in 10 minutes, fill out your census!<br />
<strong>Siouxland</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong> | Grow/35<br />
Alex Watters, City Council of Sioux City<br />
awatters@sioux-city.org<br />
Image contributed by the US Census Bureau.
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