Council President Parker Announces 2020 Census Committee Appointments

Leading up to the 2020 U.S. Census, which will begin on April 1, Birmingham City Council President William Parker is creating a committee tasked with helping to raise awareness and organize programing around census participation.

The committee will also be tasked with redrawing Council Districts once the Census Bureau releases the returns next year.

Parker will chair the committee, with Councilors Hunter Williams and Crystal Smitherman filling the two remaining seats.

Here are a few reasons why participation is so important:

· Redistricting: Based on the census returns, the Council’s census committee will use the information to help redraw City Council districts to ensure each one contains roughly the same number of voters.

· Federal funding for states and cities: Census totals help determine the amount of funding that the City will receive from the federal government for the next decade. The census affects up to $900 billion in federal grants, payments and loans that are distributed to states and municipalities.

· Congressional apportionment: The number of citizens that are counted throughout the state determines how the 435 U.S. Congressional seats are distributed. Following the last census, ten states lost one or more seats in Congress. As the state’s most populous city, Birmingham plays a huge role in how many Congressional seats Alabama will have.

“In order for us to keep the momentum going in Birmingham, having access to federal grants and funding plays a very important role in that,” Parker said. “We’d like to organize an informational town hall event to help raise awareness and invite census officials to answer questions anyone might have. The more information we can get into the hands of our residents, the more likely they are to want to participate.”

Council President Pro Tem Wardine Alexander believes that participation is vital in order to adequately fund public schools in Birmingham. “Population count impacts the amount of funding public schools can receive from the federal government. I’ve been an advocate for increasing funding and opportunities for our public school system, and making sure we have access to Title 1 funding and other federal dollars has a huge impact on the direction of our school system. It’s so important that we educate people and let them know why they need to complete their census documents,” Alexander explained.

In the coming weeks, the committee will be announcing date for the town hall event and other programing aimed at increasing census participation in Birmingham.