Public Policy

Alaska Counts Final Report

When members of the Alaska Census Working Group began planning for the 2020 Census, there was nothing to guide our work but a set of coffee-stained, chicken-scratched notes from a single meeting of the 2010 Alaska Census advisory group. This report recaps our work in Alaska leading up to the 2020 Census, with the hope that this information will preserve critical knowledge and inform future Census related efforts in our state.

Through this report, the Alaska Census Working Group intends to document our strategies and leave a repository of materials and information for future Census champions. Alaska is a difficult state to count, and we cannot afford to start from scratch every ten years. We hope to help close major knowledge and historical gaps in 2030.

When we began preparing for the 2020 Census, no one could have predicted its timeline or the historic hurdles this constitutionally-mandated, nationwide exercise would face between historically low budgets and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Alaska Census Working Group adapted to a changing landscape after months of preparation and executed a multi-pronged approach to statewide Census outreach. Its work prioritized extensive consultation with the U.S. Census Bureau directly, identifying gaps in the Bureau’s capacity that it then filled, and engaged affected stakeholders along the way to ensure strategic adaptations based on Hard-to-Count populations.

The Working Group’s tactics focused on how best to engage and empower local advocates, who served as trusted community leaders in working towards an accurate and complete count. Some accomplishments and lessons worth noting:

• We dedicated energy early on to distilling and communicating the tangible community impacts on local funding as a result of the Census (i.e. a visible hospital project, or affected community programs like childcare or food assistance)
• We filled gaps in the Census Bureau’s recruitment effort by frequent communication about which rural communities were struggling to recruit Census workers in advance of the Census launching, coordinating with partners on the ground to assist with efforts
• We hired paid phones to directly patch Alaskans through to complete the Census by phone (special emphasis since pandemic increased response challenges at the door)
• We launched a mini grant program for organizations to conduct census outreach tailored to their own community, using Alaska Counts materials and resources. Activities ranged from hosting lunch and learn events, to sponsoring a student-led Census art project to raise awareness

We hope that this overview will help inform future Census efforts in the Last Frontier, enabling future generations of census champions to rocket out of the gates.

May your count be complete and accurate!

Gabe Layman –  Chair, Alaska Census Working Group and CEO, Cook Inlet Housing Authority

Laurie Wolf – Member, Alaska Census Working Group and President & CEO of The Foraker Group