City Will Receive Grant to Educate, Inform Underserved Populations About the Census

The Pasadena City Council is set to pass a resolution Monday, January 27, to formalize acceptance of a $73,895 grant for Census 2020 education and outreach activities related to the upcoming 2020 census.

The grant is given by the County of Los Angeles as an incentive for jurisdictions classified as having geographic areas and demographic populations that are “least likely to respond” or are in the “hard-to-count” (HTC) category.

The resolution will authorize the City Manager to execute the County’s Sub-Award Agreement that will cover the grant.

Besides acting on the resolution, the City Council is also expected to amend the fiscal year 2020 Operating Budget to recognize revenues and appropriate funds in the amount of $73,895.

The grant for Pasadena will come from a total funding of $9,393,090 allocated throughout Los Angeles County for the conduct of education and outreach activities related to the 2020 Census, according to an Agenda Report by the City Clerk.

On January 16, the County agreed in principle to award the City of Pasadena with the funds that will be used to hold local community events in hard to count areas, provide information on census and encouraging participation, distribute literature and provide giveaways.

The funds will also be used to organize, coordinate, and host City census outreach events in March and April at City facilities; for printing and purchase outreach materials such as flyers, banners, billing inserts, and bookmarks; for translating and interpretation services, media outreach, direct mailings to hard to count areas, form filling assistance, and development of a workforce in coordination with the U.S. Census Bureau to promote local hiring of census enumerators.

Funding will also help accomplish “non-response follow up” (NRFU) activities occurring in May through July, directed at community members that have yet to complete the census questionnaire.

Adoption of the resolution by the Pasadena City Council is a required administrative step before execution of the sub-award agreement and release of the Census Outreach funding, according to the City Clerk’s report.

Different City offices – the City Clerk’s office, City Manager’s office, and the Library Information and Services Department – are currently engaged in coordinating Census Outreach activities, and will develop programming and messaging in compliance with the sub-award agreement to encourage census participation.

Also in accordance with guidelines within the agreement, the City Clerk’s office will maintain financial accounts, documents and records of expenditures made in support of such activities.