Kerry Ebersole Singh, director, Michigan Census

MARQUETTE — The Upper Peninsula 2020 Census “Be Counted” Digital Town Hall took place April 30 to answer questions about why the census is an important driver to keep Michigan communities intact.

Michigan Census Director Kerry Ebersole Singh addressed the main points on why filling out the census is important.

“We really want to drive home why is the census is important. … One of the things I often like to say is, ‘It’s more than just a count of our population. The importance goes way beyond that for our communities,'” Ebersole Singh said. “So one of the pieces that the census drives and the population count it informs federal funding that comes back into our communities from a number of programs from Medicaid (and) Medicare to roads and bridges to public safety to literacy programs and our schools. There is really an extensive list. And did I mention, these are federal tax dollars we already paid to the government. One of the ways we get them back into our community is the census.”

The census is a bipartisan issue, Ebersole Singh said, noting that approximately $30 billion annually comes back into the communities that help support different programs. This year, Ebersole Singh worked with the State Complete Count Committee and discussed what the goals would be, setting the self-response rate at 82%, which is higher than the 78% that was made 10 years ago, she said.

The census form only has nine questions, Ebersole Singh noted, adding that filling out the census helps ensure public health and disease prevention, especially during the coronavirus pandemic era.

Information is confidential and it can only be produced for statistics, Ebersole Singh.

“… Every effort is being made on the state, national levels to protect our personal information,” she said.

The nine questions include name, age, gender, ethnicity, race, number of individuals in a household, anyone additional in household as of April 1, if a person rent or owns a home and phone number, Ebersole Singh continued.

Chief of Staff Neeco Belanger for state Rep. Gregory Markkanen, R-Hancock, addressed why census participation is critical for federal funding.

“… It impacts funding for our schools and so many other critical services and programs that benefit Northern Michigan and beyond,” Belanger said. “For example, schools in the Upper Peninsula receive more than $10 million in federal spending for Title I school funding annually. Additionally, more than half of the U.P.’s K-12 students benefit from free or reduced-priced lunches. That’s nearly 25,000 Yooper students who don’t suffer from hunger thanks to people filling out their census forms.”

Three of the 15 counties in the U.P. have surpassed the 50% be-counted threshold, including Marquette County at 54.6%, Delta County at 52.9% and Dickinson County at 56.2%, Belanger said. Though the U.P. rests at a decent spot, all counties except Marquette County are still 10% behind 2020 response rates according to federal projections, he said, adding that Keweenaw, Alger and Ontonagon counties have the lowest response rates.

Marquette Mayor Jenna Smith contributed her opinions on why people need to act on filling our their 2020 census, especially the need for college students to do their civic duty part.

“… College students are among the least likely to complete the census. This is one of the challenges to the census workers that happens every time this comes around,” Smith said, adding, “There are almost 24,000 college students across the U.P. … these college students are all at risk of not completing their census form.”

Smith noted that the pandemic has sent many students home, but it’s still vital students play their part.

Jackie Jahfetson can be reached at jjahfetson@miningjournal.net.