Census response in poor and minority neighborhoods is undermined by coronavirus

A USA TODAY news article was released earlier today that found that among high concentrations of Black and Latino residents, response responses are drastically low due to limited internet access and disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The analysis does not include information the Census Bureau has gathered during a massive door-knocking operation currently underway. Yet, the bureau has not released detailed data that would show whether this late-summer outreach closed the gap in response rates among neighborhoods. The bureau also failed to offer any way to compare its new enumeration rate with numbers a decade ago.

Our director Paul Ong was featured in the article, for his past research focusing on ensuring vulnerable communities are counted in the census.

“My biggest fear, and my estimate, is that we’re headed towards an extremely flawed census,”said  Ong.

Read more and access the news article here >>> Census response in poor and minority neighborhoods is undermined by coronavirus