8
DECEMBER 1, 2020
Happy 55th
Birthday,
Shelly Staubes
Cheers to your
baby Elder
status!
With love from
all your family
Ǝ ʰ
Ǝ -
M
K
M
K
M A NI A
bit.ly/mekmekrmaniaregistration
12/3/20 at 6pm
Join local food experts online for an open
discussion on all things food related in the West
Valley Area.
Invited Speakers
OSU Extension Services
OSU-ES Food Hero
OSU-ES 4H
OSU- ES Master Gardeners
OSU-ES Master Food Preservers
CTGR Youth Empowerment & Prevention
CTGR NRD - Native Plant Propagation Program
Francene Ambrose
Grand Ronde
Program Manager
503-879-3663
Smoke Signals
‘Everyone worked so hard
for so long as we felt this was
so important for our Tribe’
CENSUS continued
from front page
and ideas for the future, including
getting Tribal youth to understand
why the census is important.
“It seems like our Tribe always
has a high percentage for response
rates and I appreciate your coordi-
nation, camaraderie and abilities,”
Tribal Council Vice Chair Jon A.
George said. “It’s just a testament
to your ability to work together and
get this data.”
The U.S. Census Bureau faced ad-
ditional obstacles this year with the
COVID-19 pandemic cutting back
on the ability to go door-to-door
to obtain information from those
who did not reply by mail, phone
or Internet. The bureau asked for,
and received, an extension of Oct.
31 to complete the count, but the
Supreme Court allowed the Trump
administration to cut the census
short on Oct. 14.
As a result, census takers had to
redouble their efforts to get peo-
ple counted, especially in Tribal
communities where response rates
have historically been low and re-
mained so during the pandemic as
many Reservations took additional
safety measures such as suspend-
ing door-knocking efforts.
With Grand Ronde Tribal offic-
es closed for almost two months
during the pandemic, and no door-
to-door contact allowed, the com-
mittee had to rely on other methods
to obtain responses: Multiple Tribal
members were hired to phone di-
rect to Tribal families all over the
United States to conduct outreach;
fliers were circulated at the Grand
Ronde Food Bank, community
bulletin boards and in Elder meal
grab-and-go bags; and social media
was utilized, virtual raffles were
held for census completers and an
outreach table was set up during
Tribal Council elections.
Other efforts to get out the count
included advertising through
e-mail, Smoke Signals and Face-
book, and working with state cen-
sus representatives to narrow down
the Grand Ronde Tribal members
who had not yet completed their
census forms.
The September wildfires that rav-
aged Oregon, closed Tribal offices
for several days and displaced some
area residents further complicated
counting efforts.
“Everyone worked so hard for so
long as we felt this was so import-
ant for our Tribe,” Dugger said.
“In spite of everything that was
in our way, we refused to concede,
give up or be discouraged. We just
kept coming up with new ways to
get Tribal members to respond. It
was truly a great team. Everyone
worked together to achieve this
goal.”
Other Tribal response rates in
Oregon include the Confederated
Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua
and Siuslaw Indians, 62.5 percent;
Coquille Indian Tribe, 61.5 percent;
Confederated Tribes of Umatilla,
56.7 percent; Confederated Tribes
of Siletz Indians, 61.3 percent;
Klamath Tribes, 46.2 percent;
Burns Paiute Tribe, 46 percent;
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs, 45.6 percent; and Cow
Creek Band of Umpqua Indians,
39.2 percent.
Tribal Council member Denise
Harvey thanked the committee for
its efforts and recalled the chal-
lenges when she was tasked with
leading the census effort in 2010.
“Your report is amazing,” she
said. “In 2010, I was a one-man
band. I really appreciate all of the
efforts you guys made and helping
people understand why it is im-
portant.”
Dugger has said each census
response is worth approximately
$3,200 to Tribal grant-funded pro-
grams that benefit members.
Going forward, Dugger says it
will be important to continue to
utilize Tribal media for public
outreach, develop a call team, hold
raffles with an increased budget
for prizes, create a role for Elders,
and increase outreach to younger
audiences about why it is important
to participate in the census.
The U.S. Constitution requires
that the federal government con-
duct a census every 10 years to de-
termine how many people are living
in the United States. Census num-
bers help determine the number
of seats each state has in the U.S.
House of Representatives, and help
directs where billions of dollars in
federal funding go for hospitals, fire
departments, schools, roads and
other services.