Sounding a ‘Distress Signal,’ Lightfoot Warns Chicago is Falling Behind on Census Response

Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned Monday that Chicago was falling short in responding to the 2020 census, threatening millions of dollars in federal aid to the city.

Approximately 55% of Chicagoans have already responded to the census, but that is “not even close to where we need to be,” Lightfoot said, giving the response a letter grade of C — something she said she would never have been satisfied with as a student. “We have to aim higher.”

In some South and West side neighborhoods, the response rate is 40%, Lightfoot said.

Lightfoot budgeted $2.7 million last year for census “outreach, education and mobilization” to boost the city’s response rate. In October, Lightfoot said she wanted to ensure that 75% of Chicago’s residents are counted. Chicago risks losing $1,400 per year for the next decade for each person missed during the census.

https://news.wttw.com/2020/07/13/mayor-lightfoot-warns-chicago-falling-behind-census

>>9954036

Why Rich New Yorkers Are Causing Big Problems for the Census

If residents who fled the virus for second homes aren’t counted, the city could lose out on crucial federal money — and congressional seats.

When city officials took on the herculean task of getting every New York City household to fill out the census, an eat-your-vegetables exercise that provides millions in federal aid to low-income residents, they didn’t expect the Upper East Side to pose much of a problem.

But the coronavirus has upended census-takers’ best-laid plans. And that may have serious financial implications for the city.

Only 46 percent of Upper East Side households have filled out their census forms, according to a June 25 report circulated by the Department of City Planning’s chief demographer, Joseph J. Salvo — well below the neighborhood’s final response rate in 2010, and short of the current citywide rate of almost 53 percent.

The reason?

“They’re not here,” said Liz Krueger, a Democratic state senator, referring to her constituents in Midtown and the Upper East Side. “No one’s here.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/nyregion/census-nyc-midtown-coronavirus.html