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Representatives from the U.S. Census Bureau office in Eureka gave a presentation and answered questions at the monthly open meeting of Southern Humboldt Working Together last Wednesday.
Because of a variety of scheduling conflicts, the meeting was lightly attended. SHWT secretary Kathy Epling made several announcements on behalf of some of the usual participants who were unable to attend.
Epling also reported on the February meeting of the SHWT board, including a change of by-laws and election of officers for the coming year.
Originally SHWT’s by-laws called for a three-person board, Epling explained, but last summer, a by-law change expanded the number of seats on the board to five. Southern Humboldt Community Healthcare District administrator Harry Jasper and youth activist Emma Worldpeace were added to the board at that time.
Unfortunately, Worldpeace went back to school in January 2010, leaving a vacancy that has not yet been filled. At the last meeting, the remaining members of the board voted to change the by-laws to allow the board the flexibility of having from three to five members.
Jasper was elected president of the SHWT board, replacing Rio Anderson, who remains as a board member. Mark Schaffner will serve another term as board treasurer, and Epling continues as board secretary.
Epling announced that Heart of the Redwoods Community Hospice is opening the registration period for the first in its spring 2010 series of caregiving workshops (see related story).
On behalf of Kathryn Lobato, a member of the Humboldt Area Foundation board of directors, Epling reported that HAF will be holding a community outreach workshop in Garberville on Wednesday, March 17, to inform interested persons about a grant earmarked for Southern Humboldt projects.
Application deadline for the grant is April 1, so the workshop is timed to give interested persons just two weeks to make their application. Anyone wishing to attend should call Heather Hostler at HAF, 442-2993, to register.
As a board member of Redwoods Rural Health Center, Epling reported that from her standpoint the most exciting news from RRHC was their new emphasis on integrated care, looking at “physical, mental, and medical” aspects of patient cases in a coordinated way.
Under the integrated care approach, providers will share their information and work together to help patients. To that end, RRHC’s mental health provider has moved into the medical building.
Nyra Valle from the Heartwood Institute said that Heartwood is working on a transition from being a privately-owned school to a non-profit corporation. At this stage they are still learning about the process.
The vision is to form the Heartwood Institute for Sustainable Living, which could act as an umbrella for educational programs in health, healing, permaculture, and related aspects of sustainable living.
Dan Glaser, an advocate for marijuana legalization, announced that SHCHD’s 215 Committee, of which he is a member, has tentatively booked the Mateel Community Center for a community workshop on April 20. They also hope to sponsor a charrette on medical marijuana and legalization in mid-March.
Maria Wilsey and Dee Meyer of the U.S. Census Bureau in Eureka gave a brief talk about the census process and then answered questions from the group. They hoped both to recruit census workers from the local community and to “get out the word” about the benefits of full participation in the count.
Wilsey pointed out that a census every ten years is mandated by the United States Constitution. The statistics are needed to determine Congressional representation, which is partially based on the population of each state.
In modern times, census figures are also used to verify other statistics when public entities apply for federal funding, such as food stamps, school lunch programs, health services, and applications for federal grants.
When a community is “undercounted,” Wilsey explained, it can lose funds needed to maintain or expand such programs. In our census district, which includes Humboldt, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Trinity, and Mendocino counties, the small rural town of Junction City in Trinity County lost funding for several vital projects because of a drop in census participation.
All census workers swear a lifetime oath not to reveal any “personally identifying information” gathered on the job. The Census Bureau as a whole is not allowed to release certain kinds of statistics for a period of 72 years, considered to be an average life span.
”We have one job to do,” Wilsey went on, adding that they are not looking for illegal activity, and if any is present at a household when they are conducting census business, “we don’t see it.”
Census questionnaires are mailed to each household that has mail delivery. In areas where there is no delivery, census workers will place questionnaires on each door.
Post office boxes don’t work as a way of distributing questionnaires because they don’t reflect actual occupancy, Wilsey explained. Several people from different households may share a post office box, or a person may get mail in a community other than the one in which he or she resides.
Census forms are being delivered to households around the country, including southern Humboldt, now. Everyone is asked to return census forms by mail by the end of the month.
If the census form is not returned, a worker will come to the house personally to ask the census questions. The best way to keep a census worker from coming to your home is to complete and send in the form on time.
Wilsey added that a small number of households, approximately one to three percent of those responding, will receive a follow-up visit from the quality control team.
Epling, a longtime advocate for the homeless, told Wilsey and Meyer that she was approached by someone from the Census Bureau for advice about contacting the homeless population in SoHum.
She was surprised to learn that the plan was to go to homeless camps between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. in the morning. “I told [the census worker] God bless you for wanting to help but God help you,” pointing out that first, the SoHum homeless population does not live in well-defined “camps” and secondly, that entering someone’s living space in the middle of the night is both intrusive and potentially dangerous.
Wilsey responded that it’s difficult to know where homeless persons will be in the daytime, but that it’s particularly important to get a sound count of the homeless population in order to bring in money for services.
To help people complete their census forms and to answer other questions, the Census Bureau is setting up Questionnaire Assistance Centers at three locations in Southern Humboldt: The Healy Senior Center, the County Health Department office in Garberville, and the ranger station in Whitethorn.
Additionally, the bureau will also establish Be Counted offices, which will enable people who have not received a questionnaire to come in and be counted. Locations have not been announced.
Meyer, who recruits local census workers, encouraged more SoHummers to sign up for jobs as enumerators, which pay $11.50 per hour and 50 cents per mile, “from the time you leave your house in the morning until you get home again at the end of your day.”
Enumerators and other types of census workers will be needed throughout the summer. The jobs are temporary and there is often turnover as workers find permanent jobs with other employers. Training and sample tests will be made available for all interested persons.
Right now, many of the census workers canvassing SoHum are from Rio Dell and Fortuna. “We want to hire local people because you’re usually not afraid of your neighbor,” Meyer said.
Anyone interested in working for the census should call the recruitment line at 832-5190. For other questions or more information about the census, call the Eureka office at 832-5170.
