How many times have you been sitting around talking with friends and heard one say, “I wish our supervisor would pave my road or maybe patch some bad places on it”?
Maybe you have even heard, or even said, “I sure wish our mayor and board would do something about out roads and some of the eyesores we have in our town.”
Did you ever stop to think the reason something is not done about these things might be because of the response, every 10 years, when the census is being taken?
That is just what the Sonshine Club at Center Grove Baptist Church near Maben heard at its third Thursday meeting on Sept. 19, which was one of the most interesting programs the group has had.
Brenda McGahay, who is with the U.S. Department of Commerce, spoke at the meeting. Since 2018, she has also been a partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.
McGahay told the group the first U.S. Census was taken in 1790 by U.S. marshals on horseback.
The census, which is to begin soon, is important. Most households will initially receive an invitation sent to a person’s physical address giving them the option of responding online, by mail or by phone.
If there is no response, census takers will follow up by knocking on doors, and the person knocking on doors will have an ID badge with a photo showing who they are.
McGahay said that in 2010 around a million children were not counted, and a state could lose around $2,000 for every person not counted.
She also said that in 2000, only 66% from Oktibbeha County responded, while only 54% in Webster County responded. However in 2010, the number of those responding in both those counties was up.
She reminded the group that the number of people responding in the 2020 Census count will determine what the counties and towns could do, and how much they would be funded in any grants. The count even determines the number of members we have in Congress or state legislatures.
For anyone interested, the U.S. Bureau of Census is hiring people to assist with the census. That information can be found at https:2020census.gov/jobs
