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Rock County is 'bright star' in Census 2020 participation

Subhead
Guest Commentary
Lead Summary
By
Jessica Mead, Complete County Committee chairperson and Luverne city clerk

Way to go, Rock County and city of Luverne, for your high level of participation in the 2020 U.S. Census!
Being counted helps our community get its fair share of the more than $675 billion per year in federal funds spent on schools, hospitals, roads, public works and other vital programs.
Businesses use census data to decide where to build industry, offices and stores, and this creates jobs and improves our local economies. State Census data determines representation in Congress.
Thank you to our local Complete Count Committee. We couldn’t have done this without you (Arlyn Gehrke, Becky Gutierrez, Calla Jarvie, Caroline Thorson, Cindy Arends, Emily Crabtree, Lori Sorenson, Mandy Van Grootheest and Pat Baustian.)
Your time working on our committee, engaging your sector, and overall assisting with our Census goals was instrumental in getting our community members counted. We very much appreciate each and every one of you.
Despite our Complete Count Committee — a first for Luverne, we were unable to improve our Census participation, largely due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Our self-response rate in Rock County was 77.9 percent, which is down from 78.3 percent in 2010
The city of Luverne came in at 80.1 percent, only down from 80.4 percent in 2010.
COVID was no help. It was too bad we weren’t able to do events and door-to-door canvasing this summer.
We were in the same boat as everyone else though, and I would say we maintained our count thanks to efforts of our committee.
I am proud of the fact that Rock County is dark blue compared to all of southwest Minnesota. We stick out like the bright star we are.
Special thanks to Mandy for coordinating all of the print and digital marketing, social media and website posting, etc. Also, thank you to the Star Herald for the articles in the paper, ads, and social media presence.
Thanks again to all committee members for talking to your friends, family and neighbors about the Census and how important it is.
I’m so excited to find out what our new census numbers will be and whether we surpassed the 5,000 mark in Luverne.
We should hear the state totals at the end of the year, and local totals in Spring 2021.
Thank you, Luverne and Rock County residents, for doing your part to be counted.

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