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Davenport city leaders help downtown residents complete census

Davenport city leaders held a census event at the Davenport Public Library on Main Street Wednesday to help the under-counted downtown area complete their census.

Downtown Davenport has grown since the last census. 

"We have 1,500 apartments that we didn't have ten years ago," said Davenport Ward 3 Alderwoman Marion Meginnis.

That makes the 2020 census even more important.

"It's been a phenomenal increase in population which we really want to count," Meginnis said. 

According to 2020 census self-response completion data released on Wednesday, more than half of downtown Davenport residents have not responded to the census. One area just north of downtown recorded 50.8 percent census completion. The other three downtown census tracts, or zones, reported less than 50 percent census completion as of Wednesday.

Alderwoman Meginnis said this is a new challenge for city leaders.

"Its still a low response and it's low compared to 2010," she said.

Meginnis also said there is a negative financial impact on the city as a whole if not everyone is counted in this year's census.

"If it ended today, my estimate is we'd have about 6,900 people not counted that live in davenport," Meginnis said. "That's a huge number. That's about 109 million."

That's why Meginnis and city leaders tried to entice downtown Davenport residents and renters to complete their census on Wednesday.

The Davenport Public Library held a census event at the Main Street location Wednesday to help residents and renters downtown get counted. Once they finished their census, those people walked out with a Whitey's gift card.

Matthew Gilbert with the Iowa Census Complete Count Committee said Wednesday there is a need across Iowa to allocate more resources to reach everyone.

"Iowa we do a great job in self-response, but I do think to really get to some of the hard to count areas, we really need investment," Gilbert said.

But, Meginnis said the City of Davenport did make that investment.

"We have reached out to apartment owners and they have done door hangers, which the city had made," Meginnis said.

Meginnis said the City of Davenport spent between $10,000 and $15,000 themselves. Plus, they spent other grant money to help get the message out about the census. Now, Meginnis said she need residents' help.

"We can't go count them," Meginnis said. "They have to participate in the counting."

That would help bring money right back to Davenport.

"If you had 10 more people respond, that's 160,000 dollars difference to the city," Meginnis said.

If you still need to complete the 2020 census, you can complete it online here. You can also call 844-330-2020  or fill out the forms and mail them in to the Census Bureau. You can find more information about the response options on the census website. The census must be completed by Wednesday, September 30, 2020.

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