Can only hope now: Gaps in KC Census count left to canvassers

The final report on self-response rates from the U.S. Census Bureau’s maps of hard-to-count areas left a lot of Kansas City’s central core in the orange, under 50%,

The opportunity to fill out the Census is past, and the bureau has been directed to complete the count and whatever work door-to-door canvassers can fill in by Oct. 31.

Kansas City and the status of the count in its central city is cause for anxiety. Efforts to get households to fill out the Census still left many Census tracts in the orange — meaning less than 50%.

The city’s staff, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas shared on Twitter, came up with the same concerning estimates.

“Important to note this is the self response,” Lucas added. “Let’s hope the Census Bureau found everyone else. Hope springs eternal.”

The time period allowed for the counting had at one point been extended through the end of the year because many months were set back by the pandemic. Ordinarily the Census count is to be completed by the end of September.

But the Trump Administration moved to end the Census process by the end of October. The move was challenged in court, and the Oct. 31 end date eventually prevailed.

Billions of federal dollars for education, highways and bridges, hospitals, social services and more are paid out according to population numbers gathered every 10 years by the U.S. Census Bureau. Some $675 billion is at stake. And communities that would benefit most from these resources — lower-come areas and communities of color — are at greatest risk of being under-counted.