Greenwood prepares for Census

Residents of Greenwood, MS are urged to prepare for the upcoming Census.

City, county must prepare for Census
By Bob Darden

Greenwood and Leflore County must do what they can to ensure that everyone is accurately counted in the 2010 Census, an official with the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday.

“Being counted is very important to everyday citizens as well as to local governments because $300 billion in appropriated every year based on Census numbers,” said Alicia Netterville, a partnership specialist with the bureau. “Local decision making and community planning is decided using Census numbers, and our voice in Congress is decided using Census numbers.”

Netterville spoke to the Greenwood City Council on Tuesday.

She said the partnership focus is intended to help communities increase their Census response rates.

For the 2000 Census, Leflore County’s response rate was 60 percent, and Greenwood’s was 62 percent. The national average response rate was 65 percent, she said.

Netterville called for the formation of a “Complete Count Committee,” which would include government, education, media, religious and community-based organizations. Other interested parties would be those interested in business recruiting and those familiar with “special housing.”

The Census Bureau is lining up paid workers for “address canvassing,” since the Census is based upon households.

She said applicants for those positions may call 1-866-861-2010 to get the hiring process started. Testing for those jobs, and later, for Census enumerators — those who actually count people — will take place at the Greenwood WIN Job Center.

It is hoped that the candidates applying for such positions will include the elderly, black males and those with suffering from high rates of poverty, Netterville said: “The Census Bureau wants to employ people from their very own communities.”