ROCKY BOY, Mont. (NMB) – With the conclusion of 2020 Census Outreach efforts set for the end of September, the Chippewa Cree Tribe is ramping up efforts to boost the response rate of residents on the Reservation.
As of September 3rd, the self-response rate on the Reservation was just 25.7 percent. This low response rate, which is not unique to Rocky Boy, could lead to decreased funding for crucial Tribal programs.
“With more head count and more households responding to it, there’s the possibility of more funding for the Reservation that can trickle down,” says Javon Wing, Grant Writer for Chippewa Cree Planning and Development and Tribal Census Liaison. “Part of those programs include social services programs, transportation, public health and safety, disaster assistance, educational services, healthcare, housing, roads. So it really does benefit us the more we can respond, the more funding we may be capable of receiving down the road.”
Currently, Census workers, as well as some employees from Rocky Boy, are going door to door to help people fill out the Census and provide a hotspot for people that need wireless internet to respond.
In addition, there are plans in the works for drive-thru sites on the Reservation where people can complete the Census.
“What we’re looking to do is set up a mobile hot spot at the Stone Child College parking lot,” Wing says. “And try to encourage as many people who haven’t responded to come and responded. There will be a state Census worker there and some volunteers from the Tribe to help out as well.”
The drive-thru Census effort is preliminarily scheduled to take place this Friday, with additional events possible in the coming weeks throughout the Reservation.
Wing says that there are many factors that have resulted in Rocky Boy’s low response rate so far, from lack of internet access in some places to a mistrust in the federal government.
“There’s various challenges that we’ve noticed. Yes, part of it is the importance of educating our community on the importance of the Census. And how it can positively effect us. Funding coming in can help support a lot of these programs that are so desperately needed on our Reservation. So educating the people on that, and the confidentiality aspect of it. The information that is given to the Census Bureau is confidential…Other obstacles are we’re such a rural location and we’re very far spread out, so it does make it difficult to reach each and every household, although we’re taking our best efforts to meet that, as well as updated 911 addresses. These types of things are needed, especially if we want to get mail-in Census material to each address. That’s a big issue, too. We want to make sure every address is updated and they receive the materials in the mail.”
Another challenge the Chippewa Cree Tribe has faced when it comes to getting an accurate Census count is the ongoing pandemic.
“It didn’t stop us altogether, but it did slow down a lot of what we were working on. So we really had to work from a tribal level with the state level, we had to really go back and forth on what’s the best and safest way to proceed with our efforts.”
Safety precautions are in place to ensure Census efforts on the Reservation do not lead to COVID-19 spreading.
Wing recognizes that this late into Census efforts, getting an accurate count may not be possible, but is hoping outreach efforts in the home stretch can boost the response rate significantly.
“At this point, we’re just going as strong and as hard as we can and hoping to increase that (response rate) as much as we possibly could. If we could even double (the current rate), that would be amazing.”
For more information, visit the Chippewa Cree 2020 Census Facebook page.
