City of Alexandria, Virginia
________________
MEMORANDUM
DATE: JANUARY 6, 2021
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
TITLE
Final Report of the Alexandria Complete Count Committee for the 2020 U.S. Census.
BODY
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ISSUE: Summary of activities of the Alexandria Complete Count Committee established by City Council through Resolution No. 2867 to promote the 2020 U.S. Census.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council:
1. Receive this Final Report from the Alexandria Complete Count Committee summarizing outreach activities; and
2. Commend the members of the Committee and the Complete Count Partners for their work resulting in a Complete Count for Alexandria.
BACKGROUND: The 2020 Alexandria Complete Count Committee, chaired by Councilman Canek Aguirre, was comprised of 52 members including residents, representatives from non-profit and community partners, and City and Alexandria City Public School (ACPS) staff. In its role to encourage all Alexandria residents to participate in the 2020 Census, Committee members worked with staff to develop and implement an outreach strategy focused especially on communities that have been historically undercounted.
As a result of the Committee’s efforts, Alexandria reached a Complete Count - 100% of households in the city were counted in the 2020 Census - a huge accomplishment in the best of circumstances.
The Committee’s attached final report details their activities leading to this achievement.
DISCUSSION: Throughout the course of the last 18-months, the City responded to several issues that could have potentially threatened an accurate count in Alexandria, endangering representational democracy as well as jeopardizing the City’s ability to provide programs and services to its residents.
The City Attorney’s Office took action on the City’s behalf through the following:
• Reached out to entities working on US Supreme Court challenges to the Trump Administration’s attempt to include the immigration question on the Census which resulted in the City signing on to support an amicus brief with other state and local elected officials filed in the case of the Department of Commerce v. State of New York, et al. This amicus brief <https://www.alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/planning/SupremeCourtCensusBrief-2019-04-01.pdf> urged the Supreme Court to affirm the decision of the lower court rejecting the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census and ensuring the proper allocation of federal funding to the communities and individuals who need and rely on that funding. The US Supreme Court ultimately held that the Administration had not followed the proper procedures for adding the question and remanded the case to the District Court. Council Resolution 2874 in support of excluding the citizenship question is attached (Attachment 6).
• Reviewed and monitored Virginia’s response to Executive Order 13880 directing the US Department of Commerce to try to gain access to state administrative records (“data sharing agreements”), resulting in the attached response by the City (Attachment 7).
• Provided legal guidance regarding Census enumerators legally accessing residential buildings to obtain census information.
The City also joined the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the US Census Bureau in their request to extend the statutory reporting deadlines for the Census and provide adequate funding to address continued challenges brought about by the pandemic. The letter to the US Senate is attached (Attachment 8).
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Final Report of the Complete Count Committee
Attachment 2: Work Program and Members of the Complete Count Committee
Attachment 3: Partnership Organizations
Attachment 4: ACT for Alexandria Summary Report of Census Support
Attachment 5: Alexandria Library Summary Report of Activities
Attachment 6: Resolution in Support of an Accurate 2020 Census without the Citizenship
Question
Attachment 7: Letter to the US Census Bureau on the Effect of US Census Differential Privacy
on the City of Alexandria
Attachment 8: Letter to U.S. Senate Requesting Census Deadline Extension
Attachment 9: Examples of Print Materials
STAFF:
Emily A. Baker, Deputy City Manager
Karl W. Moritz, Director, Department of Planning & Zoning
Carrie Beach, Division Chief, NPCD, Department of Planning & Zoning
Katherine Carraway, Urban Planner, NPCD, Department of Planning & Zoning
Brandi Collins, Housing Program Manager, Office of Housing
Sierra Latham, Formerly with NPCD, Department of Planning & Zoning
Richardson Jean Baptiste, Urban Planner, NPCD, Department of Planning & Zoning
Patrick Silva, Senior Planning Technician, Department of Planning & Zoning
Kim Agee, Management Analyst, Department of Planning & Zoning
Lisa Chase, Administrative Analyst, Department of Planning & Zoning