During the 2010 census, residents of the southeast and southwest of Grand Rapids were the most undercounted in all of the city – also the same areas with the highest concentrations of residents of color in the city, according to maps compiled from two Census Bureau sources.
“You know what we want to do is focus on increasing awareness and confidence and desire to participate in those neighborhoods.”
That’s Lou Canfield City’s Development Center Manager and Complete Count Committee liaison for the U.S. 2020 Census efforts. He says the city is hoping to address undercount by hiring a census coordinator and four census ambassadors.
“We are very desirous that they would be people who live in those neighborhoods and have knowledge of the neighborhoods and interests and concerns and know a lot of the people in the neighborhoods already.”
The coordinator’s task is to build community awareness and supervise the census ambassadors who will be in charge of doing on the ground outreach. The positions are temporary and will last about ten months. The deadline to apply is June 17. More information about these positions can be found at the City of Grand Rapids’ website.
Michelle Jokisch Polo WGVU News.