[Written by Emerson McClure, Yankton Chamber Intern & Yankton High School Senior]

The start of a new decade means reflecting over the past ten years and awaiting all the opportunities to come in the next. A new decade also means another national census count.

The 2020 Census is unique in that it is the first time that forms will be available to complete online. The website, 2020census.gov, will be available around the time that the census form is sent out in the mail to each citizen. Every address will still receive a form in the mail on or before April 1. One can reply online, by mail, or on the phone.

Yankton Community Development Manager Brad Bies is the city liaison in helping with Leadership Yankton, a five-week program provided by the Yankton Chamber of Commerce to help educate employees about all the facets of Yankton. This group is focused on learning about and taking on projects to benefit the community. They are also the root of the Complete Count Committee for Yankton.

The Complete Count committee is made up of a cross-section of different employees from businesses around Yankton and is diverse in ethnicities and languages in order to communicate with everyone. Locals who understand their community well are able to identify who can help make sure that everybody is aware of the importance of the census. The committee’s main goal is to account for every single person living in Yankton.

“This is bigger than the city of Yankton,” Bies said. “We’re trying to emphasize community and the cross-leadership of Yankton. It’s not effective if it’s a bureaucratic project.” The Yankton Complete Count Committee will be identifying the populations who are reluctant or less likely to participate in the census count. They may have a barrier to participating, be an immigrant who never partook in national census counts or part of a family where nobody has completed the census. The committee will be identifying and figuring out how to best reach out and communicate with them.

The committee will also be coordinating with Mount Marty College regarding the students’ place of living. “The census is a lot more important than what the sign coming up the highway says,” Bies said. “[The census] can affect businesses and retailers coming to our community, nonprofit organizations, hospitals, social service agencies, what sort of housing developments we need and more. It’s used in a whole myriad of ways that happen behind the scenes. We want to use it to the greatest advantage of Yankton.”

The amount of funding a certain area receives is a formula based on the census count. An accurate census count could allow for more funding from a grant program or more money for necessities in the community. The census count also shows the demographics of the area including age range, ethnicity, language, and other key pieces of information when deciding to place a business or retailer in a certain community. “The more we know ourselves, the better we can know our story or be able to tell what our needs are,” Bies commented.

The census count is not just a national effort, but a community-wide endeavor. “The community is going to see a strong attempt from the Complete Count Committee to try to reach everybody,” Bies said. The national census count will take place on April 1, 2020. It is crucial for each citizen to be accounted for, with the help of the Yankton Complete Count Committee, in order to maximize opportunities for the community.