Coronavirus Outbreak Impacts Santa Paula’s Census 2020 Outreach

With something as important and almost rare as the Census, it is crucial to make as many efforts possible to encourage everyone in the community to participate, as this can impact up to the following 10 years of our community.

Now with the coronavirus outbreak, every single public event planned to promote the 2020 Census has now been canceled or postponed until further notice. In Santa Paula, community leaders and non-profit organizations are opting for digital outreach more than ever.

Specifically Santa Paula Counts, a group formed by several community organizations, has been more active on Instagram posting lots of encouragement for the community to participate with information or giveaways they’re promoting.

According to the latest American Community Survey, during 2014 to 2018, it was estimated that 21.0% of households in Santa Paula either had no home internet subscription or dial up-only.

In an article by the Santa Paula Times, the new emerging outreach efforts being pushed include phone banking and radio spots that will be aired to encourage the community on being counted.

“Ventura County ranks 59th out of 3,000 counties across the United States in terms of largest hard-to-count populations.”

As a result of the coronavirus I plan to also outreach and do my reporting though popular social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. I began to follow the SP Counts instagram page and they have followed back so I can interview them through social media or they could also help connect me to other sources.