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Local census committee seeks support for 'complete count' in 2020

By
Lori Sorenson

Luverne City Council members approved a resolution at their March 12 meeting to support local efforts toward a complete count in the 2020 census.
The city of Luverne established a Complete Count Committee (CCC) earlier this year to support the 2020 U.S. Census efforts. The committee’s goals are to:
•increase response rates in the city of Luverne.
•promote and educate community members of the Census.
•build trust of the Census among community members.
•increase the awareness of the importance of an accurate census count.
Luverne City Clerk Jessica Mead is leading the effort and has been training with the League of Minnesota Cities and the Minnesota State Demographic Center to learn how local committees can improve census participation.
She requested the city’s support resolution on behalf of the local CCC at Tuesday’s council meeting, explaining the census for the public record.
The U.S. Census counts every person in the United States, as mandated by the U.S. Constitution.
“America gets just one chance each decade to count its population,” Mead said at the meeting.
The data collected by the decennial census determines the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and is also used to distribute billions in federal funds to local communities.
“Achieving an accurate census count is imperative for our democracy,” Mead said.
Mayor Pat Baustian sent letters to state representatives last week, also seeking their support.
“In the 2010 census the city of Luverne’s population grew by 2 percent from the 2000 census to 4,745,” he wrote in a document dated March 14.
“We are extremely close to achieving a population count of over 5,000. Should we reach that magical number, the city would benefit greatly from the new money we would receive to pay for our aging roads, among many other [priorities that rely on] federal and state funding.”
The council unanimously approved the resolution.
The CCC is planning a local social media campaign that will launch April 1 to kick off a year of planning for the 2020 census.

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