Blogs

SoapBlog 2: The 2010 Census
Mayor Mark Mallory


In my State of the City Address, I talk about the importance of the upcoming 2010 Census count.

The Census is one of the best opportunities to bring new financial resources to Cincinnati.  Each year, 170 federal programs use Census data to distribute $300 billion in funding.  In addition, 80% of decisions about where retail stores open businesses are based on Census derived data.  At the time of the last Census, the US Conference of Mayors estimated that a city loses $2,263 over a decade for each person not counted.  By those numbers, Cincinnati missed out on $104 million. 

The reason we lost so much money is because as many as 46,000 people who were living in Cincinnati were not counted in 2000.  We now know that Cincinnati's population is 378,259.  That number is the result of a comprehensive analysis we commissioned from Social Compact, a national non-profit organization that encourages private investment in inner city communities.

Social Compact conducted a DrillDown study of Cincinnati that used 27 different types of data to project Cincinnati's actual population and true income.  The study showed that Cincinnati's population has been undercounted by the Census Bureau by as much as 46,000 people, and revealed $2.7 in previously unrecognized income.  We are using those income findings to recruit business investment to our 52 neighborhoods through my Shop 52 initiative.

As we approach the Census, the DrillDown study is a huge asset that gives us a competitive advantage of many cities.  In 2010, armed with the number 378,259, we know how many people we are looking to find.

Instead of counting people, we are accounting for people.  That new mindset will allow us to be much more targeted in our approach.  If for example, a neighborhood is counted and we find fewer people than we expected to find, we will know that we need to invest more time in that neighborhood to find people who may not have been easily identified the first time.

Last year, I created a Cincinnati Complete Count Committee to develop a comprehensive strategy to ensure Cincinnati has the most accurate count possible.  The committee is composed of over 100 local leaders and co-chaired by Charles Graves, Director of City Planning, and Donna Jones Baker, President and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati.  We are going to undertake the most comprehensive effort ever seen in Cincinnati to find and count everyone who is living in our city.

We need your help.  We need you to spread the word about the importance of the Census.  We also need your ideas.  Give us your suggestions on how we can get the word out to people.  Together, we are going to literally grow our city next year.