    [Senate Hearing 117-654]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 117-654

                           REVIEWING THE 2020 CENSUS:
                         LOCAL PERSPECTIVES IN MICHIGAN

    =======================================================================

                                 FIELD HEARING

                                   BEFORE THE

                                  COMMITTEE ON
                   HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
                              UNITED STATES SENATE

                        ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION
                                   __________

                                 JULY 25, 2022
                                   __________

            Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov

                           Printed for the use of the
            Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

                      [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                   __________

                        U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

    51-545 PDF               WASHINGTON : 2023

           COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

                       GARY C. PETERS, Michigan, Chairman
    THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware           ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
    MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
    KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              RAND PAUL, Kentucky
    JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma
    ALEX PADILLA, California             MITT ROMNEY, Utah
    JON OSSOFF, Georgia                  RICK SCOTT, Florida
                                         JOSH HAWLEY, Missouri

                       David M. Weinberg, Staff Director
                        Zachary I. Schram, Chief Counsel
                Annika W. Christensen, Professional Staff Member
     Corri L. Wofford, Regional Director, Office of Senator Gary C. Peters
                    Pamela Thiessen, Minority Staff Director
                Sam J. Mulopulos, Minority Deputy Staff Director
           Cara G. Mumford, Minority Director of Governmental Affairs
                         Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
                         Thomas J. Spino, Hearing Clerk

                                C O N T E N T S

                                     ------
    Opening statements:
                                                                       Page
        Senator Peters...............................................     1
    Prepared statements:
        Senator Peters...............................................    33
        Congresswoman Lawrence.......................................    35

                                   WITNESSES
                             Monday, July 25, 2022

    Hon. Michael E. Duggan, Mayor....................................     4
    Jeffrey Morenoff, Ph.D., Professor of Public Policy and
      Sociology, University of Michigan..............................     6
    N. Charles Anderson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Urban
      League of Detroit and Southeastern Michigan....................     8
    Jane C. Garcia, Vice Chair, Latin Americans for Social and
      Economic Development (LA SED)..................................    10
    Maha Freij, President & Chief Executive Officer, Arab Community
      Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS)...............    11
    Kelley J. Kuhn, President & Chief Executive Officer, Michigan
      Nonprofit Association..........................................    13

                         Alphabetical List of Witnesses

    Anderson, N. Charles:
        Testimony....................................................     8
        Prepared statement...........................................   151
    Duggan, Hon. Michael E.:
        Testimony....................................................     4
        Prepared statement with attachments..........................    36
    Freij, Maha:
        Testimony....................................................    11
        Prepared statement...........................................   158
    Garcia, Jane C.:
        Testimony....................................................    10
        Prepared statement...........................................   157
    Kuhn, Kelley J.:
        Testimony....................................................    13
        Prepared statement...........................................   163
    Morenoff, Jeffrey Ph.D.:
        Testimony....................................................     6
        Prepared statement with attachments..........................   125

                           REVIEWING THE 2020 CENSUS:
                        LOCAL PERSPECTIVES IN MICHIGAN

                                  ----------

                             MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022

                                         U.S. Senate,
                               Committee on Homeland Security
                                      and Governmental Affairs,
                                                            Detroit, MI
        The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:58 a.m., the
    Frank Hayden Community Room, Wayne County Community College
    Downtown Campus (1001 W. Fort Street, Detroit, MI 48226), Hon.
    Gary Peters, Chairman of the Committee, presiding.
        Present: Senator Peters

                OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN PETERS\1\

        Chairman Peters. This committee will come to order.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Senator Peters appears in the
    Appendix on page 33.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        I would certainly like to thank Dr. Ivery and the President
    of Wayne County Community College District (WCCCD) and this
    campus for welcoming us here today and hosting this hearing. I
    certainly want to thank each of our witnesses for coming out
    today, as well, and for each and every one of you and your
    dedicated service to the residents of Michigan. Today's hearing
    will examine the 2020 Census and its operations and impacts
    here in Michigan, as a local case study that I think
    illuminates national trends.
        I want to first acknowledge Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence,
    whose district we are in here today, who has also been a
    champion on Census issues and certainly a key partner
    throughout the Census. Congressman Lawrence has also fought to
    ensure every person is counted, and we continue to work
    together on these issues in Washington. She has sent a
    statement for us today, and without objection, I will be
    entering her statement into the official record of the
    Committee.\2\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \2\ The prepared statement of Congresswoman Lawrence appears in the
    Appendix on page 35.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today about
    your community's experiences with the Census, including
    successes and challenges during the count, your incredible
    public outreach efforts during the Census, the concerns that we
    are now facing with undercounts, however, in our communities,
    and lessons learned that we would hope to apply to the 2030
    Census. While my Committee has examined these trends at the
    national level, I believe, and certainly would argue, that it's
    essential that we get local perspectives, since the impacts are
    felt right here at home.
        Every 10 years, the Census serves as a national roadmap,
    determining how billions of dollars in Federal resources are
    dispersed, as well as congressional representation. The Census
    affects everything from school funding and classroom sizes to
    money for road construction, to where our businesses decide to
    locate. In Michigan, at least $1800 per year in Federal funding
    is on the line if there is an inaccurate Census count. That's
    per year. Over 10 years, that's $18,000 per person. We have to
    make sure that every person is indeed counted.
        Every Census is a monumental task, and the 2020 Census
    proved especially challenging due to the public health crisis
    caused by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and
    attempts by the former administration to politicize the Census,
    which compromised the collection of data. Census Bureau
    professionals ultimately resisted political interference and
    have worked diligently to deliver Census results in 2021 and
    2022, and community groups in Michigan met the moment with
    historic and robust efforts to get people counted. I certainly
    believe that these ``Get Out The Count'' efforts, and the work
    of the folks here at this hearing, serve as a model for the
    nation.
        Under the new Census Bureau director, Robert Santos, who my
    Committee confirmed into his position last year, the Bureau is
    working to be transparent about the 2020 Census results and
    challenges, determine what improvements can be made, and help
    communities move forward. As Chair of this Committee, which has
    jurisdiction over the Census Bureau, I have led oversight
    throughout the count, fought against political interference,
    and consistently pushed the Bureau to improve its efforts to
    count all Michiganders, particularly hard to count communities.
        While we won many victories for the accurate Census, there
    are still many aspects out there that I believe fell short.
    There were significant undercounts of minorities across the
    nation, as well as young children, renters, and other
    disadvantaged groups. According to scholars at the University
    of Michigan (U of M) and Wayne State University (WSU), the 2020
    Census likely undercounted, emphasis--Detroit's population by
    about eight percent in certain neighborhoods, a potential
    undercount of tens of thousands of people. This translates into
    real challenges for cities like Detroit, leading to decreased
    funding for services like Medicaid and Medicare, Supplemental
    Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, Head Start, and
    much more.
        I look forward to hearing from our panel today about how
    residents in Detroit and in other Michigan communities would be
    hit hard by these results and efforts led by Mayor Duggan and
    other critical organizations to address them. As we examine
    ways to improve the Census for our communities, we must also
    discuss how our current categories limit representation for
    Michigan's Arab and Muslim American communities. Currently, the
    Census does not include a designation for people of Middle
    Eastern and North African descent, which means this vibrant
    community may not be receiving the right Federal support and
    resources to meet their unique needs.
        For years, I have been urging the Office of Management and
    Budget (OMB), which sets all Federal data collection standards,
    including for the Census Bureau, to add a specific Middle
    Eastern and North African (MENA) designation to ensure this
    community is accurately counted. I look forward to discussing
    how this additional category will help communities here in
    Michigan.
        Today's hearing is an important opportunity to put our
    distinguished panel's perspectives on the 2020 Census into the
    official Congressional Record (CR) that identifies solutions
    that will help move forward and support every Michigander.
        It is the practice of the Homeland Security and
    Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) to swear in witnesses.
    If you will all please stand and raise your right hands?
        Do you swear the testimony you will give before this
    Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
    the truth, so help you, God?
        Mr. Duggan. I do.
        Dr. Morenoff. I do.
        Mr. Anderson. I do.
        Ms. Garcia. I do.
        Ms. Freij. I do.
        Ms. Kuhn. I do.
        Chairman Peters. I have been instructed to hold this
    microphone closer to my mouth, so when you are talking, after I
    introduce you, you may want to have it close to your talking,
    as well.
        Today's first witness is Mayor Mike Duggan. Mayor Duggan
    has served as Detroit's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since
    2014, and oversees all of the City departments. Mayor Duggan
    and I have partnered together for many years on issues and
    initiatives to help the people of Detroit. Certainly, Mayor, I
    look forward to continuing that work in the years to come.
    Mayor Duggan was born in Detroit, and has spent his entire
    career working in the City to solve some of the most complex
    issues facing Detroiters, including crime, blight, access to
    jobs, economic development.
        As Mayor, his priorities and accomplishments have included
    strong fiscal management, ensuring that long-term Detroiters
    have the opportunity to participate fully in the City's
    recovery, attracting new jobs to the City, and using resources,
    including Federal funds, for improving neighborhoods, reducing
    inter-generational poverty, and rebuilding the City's
    infrastructure.
        During the 2020 Census, Mayor Duggan launched ``Be Counted
    Detroit,'' a city-wide effort to encourage responding to the
    Census. Previously, Mayor Duggan served as CEO for the Detroit
    Medical Center, and as Deputy Wayne County Executive under Ed
    McNamara at the Wayne County law department.
        Mayor Duggan, always a pleasure to see you. Welcome before
    this field hearing. You may proceed with your opening remarks.

    TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE MICHAEL E. DUGGAN,\1\ MAYOR, CITY OF
                                DETROIT

        Mr. Duggan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You and Congresswoman
    Lawrence have been fighting for an accurate Census count for
    awhile. Today, I want to ask that Congress take this up with
    even more urgency.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Duggan appears in the Appendix on
    page 36.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        There has been a lot of talk about systemic racism in this
    country in the last couple of years. I am disappointed to say,
    the U.S. Government is engaging in systemic racism, and that's
    in the conduct of the U.S. Census. The city of Detroit has been
    objectively undercounted by 50,000 people. All we want is a
    fair chance to appeal.
        The Census was done in 2020; it's now July 2022, a year and
    a half later, and the Census Bureau has yet to put out an
    appeal process. We have no remedy, and so that is why we are
    here today asking for your help. The racial undercount is not
    just my opinion. The Census Bureau Director Robert Santos, on
    March 10th of this year, reported that the Black population in
    America was undercounted by 3.3 percent, nearly a doubling of
    the two-percent undercount 10 years before. The Latino
    population was undercounted by one and half percent in 2010.
    Director Santos reports that undercount tripled to five percent
    in 2020.
        In a city that is 84 percent Black and Brown, that
    undercount hits the city of Detroit harder than any other
    community in America. $10 million a year in State revenue
    sharing, and much more in Federal funds are being lost to our
    residents for critical services because of this undercount.
        I was a Census taker in 1980 when I was an undergrad at the
    University of Michigan, and the process really has not changed
    much in the last 40 years. There's a voluntary period in which
    people can mail in their Census information, and after that is
    the non-response follow-up, the intense door-to-door effort to
    count those who did not mail in. The only thing that has
    changed in 40 years is this year an internet response option
    was added, and when that happened, that exacerbated the
    differences between Black, Brown, White, wealthy and poor.
        People who do not have computers or internet access were
    even less likely to have responded voluntarily, which means we
    needed a more vigorous non-response follow-up than ever before.
    Instead, the traditional 10-week non-response follow-up on the
    streets was cut by the Census Bureau to seven weeks. When the
    city of Detroit finished the voluntary period, we were at 49
    percent.
        There were communities in this country that were well off
    that were at 80 percent. You needed to pour the resources into
    the streets of Detroit in that seven week period that started
    August 11th. But as they were giving up in July, the first of
    July, the director of the Detroit Census office quit. They were
    hiring all of these people to do a quick seven-week process;
    they had no director. They did not replace him the second week
    of July; they did not replace him the fourth week of July; they
    did not replace him when the people hit the streets on August
    11th. They did not replace him until nearly the end of August
    when the follow-up was almost half over. The testimonials that
    we have submitted from various Census workers that talk about
    the absolute chaos, the staff shortages, the fact they would
    sit around until three or four in the afternoon before they had
    even got their assignments to go out on the streets. They would
    be out on the streets and find out they were in an area that
    was already counted.
        One school teacher said, ``I was there five days in a row
    and never got a single assignment.'' Probably most troubling,
    the Census Bureau standard says you do non-response follow-up
    with six visits to a house; in an urban situation, you can get
    by with three. The testimonials of the workers were the
    supervisor said, ``Just visit once, that will do.'' So we know
    what happened. We wanted to appeal, so we hired Professor
    Morenoff and the University of Michigan to do a study. The
    Census Bureau will tell you how many occupied houses they
    counted in any individual block.
        The University of Michigan and the team took ten
    neighborhoods in this city and matched the households the
    Census Bureau counted, and this was a door-to-door door-
    knocking effort with the effort of some Wayne State students. I
    can give you one example; in the Boston-Edison neighborhood the
    Census Bureau said there 399 occupied houses. The door-to-door,
    door-knocking found 484. They missed 17 percent of the houses.
        But what is even harder to believe is the U.S. Postal
    Service (USPS), that has continually updated occupied houses,
    had 484. The Post Office was almost accurate. Instead of doing
    the Census, if they would have followed the postman down the
    street, they would have had a better count. What the U of M
    report shows across the city, there was close to an eight
    percent undercount, which would be 50,000 people.
        One last point I would like to make. It did not stop with
    the decennial Census. The Census Bureau just put out it is 2021
    estimate, the one-year update. They said we lost 7,000 people.
    I defy you to drive around the city of Detroit today, where
    there are cranes everywhere, where there's housing shortages
    and rents rising, where houses went for over $100,000 a year
    for the first time, and I am trying to find a place for people
    to live, and tell me where 7,000 people left.
        In fact, Detroit Edison (DTE) Energy said, in last year,
    they had 8,000 more housing units with gas and electricity. How
    do you have a situation where utility companies have a major
    increase in the member of occupied houses and the Census Bureau
    can't count them? They are exacerbating a problem from the
    decennial Census with the annual estimates.
        Mr. Chairman, all we want is objective standards of appeal;
    we can't go back in time. We want an appeal process that will
    allow us to use objective data like the utility data, like
    studies from the University of Michigan, like the Post Office
    data. That is what we want. If your committee could help speed
    up that process and give us a fair chance, the people of
    Detroit just want to be counted like everybody else in America.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for all
    your efforts, and for championing this cause. We are definitely
    focused on it.
        Our next witness is Dr. Jeffrey Morenoff, professor of
    public policy and sociology at the University of Michigan where
    he also serves as a research professor in the population study
    center and survey research center. Dr. Morenoff's research
    focuses on neighborhood environments, inequity, inequality,
    crime and criminal justice, and the social determinants of
    health, racial, ethnic, and immigrant disparities in health,
    and antisocial behavior. Dr. Morenoff is part of the University
    of Michigan team who conducted a clinical study on the likely
    Detroit undercount, as referenced by the Mayor.
        Dr. Morenoff, welcome to the Committee. Make sure your
    microphone is close. The Mayor led very well and knew exactly
    what he was doing. Clearly a professional.
        You may now proceed with your opening remarks.

    TESTIMONY OF JEFFREY D. MORENOFF, PH.D.,\1\ PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC
              POLICY AND SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

        Dr. Morenoff. Thank you, Chairman Peters. I appreciate the
    opportunity to testify today about the 2020 Census. The
    decennial Census is arguably our nation's most important source
    of data. The results of the Census are used for congressional
    apportioning and defining State legislative districts. Census
    results also determine how more than $1 trillion in Federal
    funding is distributed each year to local, State, and tribal
    governments, as well as nonprofit organizations and households
    across the country.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Dr. Morenoff appears in the Appendix
    on page 125.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        This money is used to fund many different programs that
    critically impact local governments, including education and
    community development grants, employment and training services,
    road construction, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid, and much
    more. Thus local governments have a vested interest in ensuring
    that their constituents are accurately counted. I was surprised
    and puzzled when I first saw the 2020 Census population count
    for Detroit, which was slightly less than 640,000 people.
        To put this in context, in 2019, the Census Bureau
    estimated Detroit's population to be slightly over 670,000
    people. The 2020 Census was suggesting that Detroit lost about
    31,000 people, or 4.6 percent of its population, in just one
    year. An annual population loss on this scale would far exceed
    any of the annual population losses that Detroit had
    experienced over the previous nine years. Moreover, the quality
    and completeness of the Census population count is inextricably
    tied to the accuracy of its housing count, and the 2020 Census
    produced a very puzzling count of Detroit's housing.
        The 2020 Census showed that the City had lost 13.8 percent
    of its housing stock in a single year. No other major U.S. city
    experienced a comparable loss of housing units from 2019 to
    2020, and Detroit had not experienced anything close to such a
    dramatic loss in the previous nine years. Therefore, when Mayor
    Duggan's office reached out to me and a group of other local
    demographers to ask if we could conduct an independent and
    scientifically rigorous study on the 2020 Census count, I felt
    compelled to get involved and learn more about what might have
    produced these anomalous results.
        Our research involved an extensive visual housing audit of
    over 114,000 addresses located within over 4,000 Census blocks
    where the city of Detroit was challenging the housing count.
    This audit revealed that the 2020 Census undercounted the
    number of housing units on 70 percent of the Census blocks that
    we reviewed. Simply put, the Census failed to count over 78,000
    housing units on these blocks. Our housing audit also showed
    that the housing undercount was most pronounced in
    neighborhoods with the lowest self-response rates to the 2020
    Census suggesting that not enough resources were invested in
    field operations to complete the count.
        As Mayor Duggan explained in his testimony, and the
    attached statements from 11 Census workers support, the field
    operation in Detroit started late, ended prematurely, and was
    inadequately staffed and supervised. Our research also revealed
    that the 2020 Census substantially undercounted the number of
    occupied housing units in ten block groups that where we
    compared the Census housing data to data from the U.S. Postal
    Service and the door-to-door canvas. We estimated that the 2020
    Census undercounted the population in these areas by eight
    percent.
        If undercounts of a similar magnitude exist in a majority
    of the cities, more than 600 block groups, the ultimate size of
    a population undercount could be in the tens of thousands. The
    decennial Census is a massive and complex operation. Although I
    have been critical of the 2020 Census for undercounting
    Detroit's population and residential housing stock, I also want
    to acknowledge the severe and unprecedented operational
    challenges that the Census Bureau faced, and commend the Bureau
    for its heroic efforts in adapting to extremely difficult
    circumstances created by budget concerns and the pandemic. But
    as the panel to evaluate the quality of the 2020 Census at the
    National Academies of Sciences (NAS), Engineering and Medicine
    recently concluded, there are well-founded concerns about the
    2020 Census that need to be investigated.
        As the Mayor related in his testimony, for Detroit, a
    principal concern is that between 2019 and 2020, the Census
    Bureau appears to have dropped over 58,000 addresses from its
    master address file (MAF). Based on our research, this seismic
    decline in housing stock is likely inaccurate and translates
    into a significant population undercount.
        There's a real human impact behind this undercount.
    Millions of dollars that should have gone to programs providing
    affordable housing, nutrition assistance, early childhood
    education and more will not reach the people who need them.
    Entire communities may be under-represented in Congress and
    State legislatures because of lost seats.
        This is exactly why local governments, including Detroit,
    should be empowered to not only question but also challenge the
    accuracy of the housing and population counts in their
    jurisdictions. But as of now, the data needed to decisively
    show an undercount are hidden from these localities. Without
    the master address file and other related information, these
    communities have no choice but to retain consultants and
    lawyers to develop studies and arguments to reveal and rectify
    areas in the count that would be easily discovered from the
    Census Bureau's data directly.
        Although privacy concerns are important and must be
    addressed, these concerns alone do not justify shielding
    Detroit from its own metrics. Transparency and accuracy demand
    that the Census Bureau be more forthcoming in sharing data
    files with the communities most impacted by them. Thank you.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Dr. Morenoff.
        Our next witness is Charles Anderson, President and CEO of
    the Urban League of Detroit in Southeastern Michigan where he
    served as the Chapter's 6th and 8th president. For two decades,
    Mr. Anderson has been responsible for the vision, leadership,
    and the direction of the Urban League of Detroit & Southeastern
    Michigan. Mr. Anderson helped lead local and statewide
    community outreach efforts during the 2020 Census. Mr. Anderson
    was previously involved with Charlotte National Association for
    the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth Council, where
    he later served as President and helped organize the NAACP
    Youth Council radio show, ``Talk to the People,'' on WGIV radio
    in Charlotte, North Carolina, and co-hosted the NAACP
    television program, ``Experience!'' He has also served on the
    NAACP national staff as director of the Midwest Region.
        Mr. Anderson, welcome to the Committee. You may proceed
    with your opening remarks.

       TESTIMONY OF N. CHARLES ANDERSON,\1\ PRESIDENT AND CHIEF
      EXECUTIVE OFFICER, URBAN LEAGUE OF DETROIT AND SOUTHEASTERN
                                MICHIGAN

        Mr. Anderson. Thank you, Chairman Peters. I do not know
    where you got that information from. You went way back in my
    history. Thank you very much for reminding me of those things.
    But thank you also for this opportunity to testify today on
    ``Reviewing the 2020 Census: Local Perspectives in Michigan.''
    Specifically, thank you for bringing the focus of the Census
    home to Michigan, which unfortunately and regrettably lost a
    congressional seat following the 2020 Census. I do want to also
    say thank you to Mayor Duggan for advocating for a complete
    count of Detroit and formally challenging our Census Bureau's
    2020 numbers.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Anderson appears in the Appendix
    on page 151.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        I am honored to be part of the witness panel of outstanding
    leaders, experts, and community organizers who continually
    strive to make the State of Michigan and the city of Detroit an
    international metropolis that serves the needs of all of its
    residents.
        The Urban League is one of 92 affiliates of the National
    Urban League (NUL) across 36 States and the District of
    Columbia. The Urban League movement serves well over two
    million people per year and enables African Americans and
    others in underserved communities to achieve their highest
    human potential and secure economic self-reliance, parity,
    power, and civil rights. I am glad and proud to say that the
    Detroit Urban League is serving between 13 and 15,000 citizens
    each month, more than 125,000 annually, and we have programs
    such as Special Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants, and
    Children (WIC) and Urban Seniors Jobs Program for seniors where
    funding in our community is based on those Census numbers, so
    we are very concerned about an accurate count.
        As part of its mission, the National Urban League did
    convene the 2020 Census Black Roundtable with over 20 national
    civil rights organizations to organize and strategize ahead of
    the many obstacles that threatens an accurate count of Black
    people in this country and, in turn, the essential resources
    that are needed.
        Over the years, in past Censuses, it has been a real
    privilege to partner with the U.S. Government to conduct the
    Census. But unfortunately here, you kind of mentioned, Mr.
    Chairman, the 2020 Census did not feel like a truly friendly
    effort. The Urban League movement absolutely applauds the
    Census Bureau's rank and file staff for its work, but it is
    really difficult under unheralded political influences and
    global pandemic that is still wreaking havoc on the lives of
    many, including the city of Detroit. It is still challenging to
    feel like we were working together to make sure that there was
    an accurate count.
        We used our efforts on social media, used all the available
    resources, with some extra focuses on social media, to make
    sure that we communicated with the client, the 125,000 people
    that we would serve in a year just to send out information and
    encourage them to participate in the Census. But it was a
    challenging year, as has already been shared.
        The Urban League does urge the Census Bureau to continue to
    identify opportunity to collect the numbers to reflect an
    accurate count of our community so that Federal funding needs
    are addressed. We would urge the Census Bureau to extend more
    flexibility in reviewing local challenges to the 2020 Census.
        Finally, we would suggest that there are concerns with
    prisoner gerrymandering. Michigan has an incarceration rate of
    599 per 100,000 people, including jails, prisons, immigration
    detention, and juvenile justice facilities. Our country locks
    up a higher percentage of its population than almost any
    democracy. This prison industrial complex is felt especially
    hard by the Black community, who make up 14 percent of the
    State's population, with 50 percent of those who are
    imprisoned. One in 68 Black people that are in prison in
    Michigan, and arguably many of them could have been counted as
    Detroit citizens, if, in fact, there was consideration given
    for that.
        We appreciate the opportunity to focus on where the Census
    is, and the opportunity we have to correct the mistakes that
    were made during the Census. Thank you.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Mr. Anderson.
        Our next witness is Jane Garcia, Vice Chair of the Latin
    Americans for Social and Economic Development (LA SED), a
    nonprofit agency serving the Detroit Hispanic community. LA SED
    assists community members with a variety of services, and
    helped conduct Census outreach in 2020. Ms. Garcia herself is
    also a former Census employee.
        In addition, Ms. Garcia is a founder of Corporate
    Responsibility through Advocacy, an organization that advocates
    for minority board members and minority representation at all
    levels. Prior to serving on the board, Ms. Garcia served as
    part of the Executive Committee of the United Way Community
    Services for 20 years. Ms. Garcia is a licensed social worker,
    and has been a community activist for over 45 years.
        Ms. Garcia, welcome to the Committee. You may proceed with
    your opening remarks.

       TESTIMONY OF JANE C. GARCIA,\1\ CHAIR LATIN AMERICANS FOR
                    SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

        Ms. Garcia. Thank you so much, Senator. We really are very
    grateful that we are participating. The issue of the Census has
    been very close to our hearts. For many years, I served for the
    Census. I did four Censuses. I understood the importance of the
    outreach and the participation from all levels, government,
    local government, and the nonprofits, especially the people
    that did not speak English. We thought that bilingual services
    needed to be really stressed out during this past Census.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Garcia appears in the Appendix on
    page 157.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        To me, this Census was not prepared for the influx of
    immigrants, did not want to count immigrants, if I remember
    correctly; I heard. The issue is very clear that the undercount
    was going to be going across the country, not just in Michigan.
    We were very fortunate, the Mayor got on board very early and
    tried to get out as much information as possible to the
    communities. We stressed this, that in 2012, somebody in power
    decided that they were going to close 50 percent of the
    regional offices. Unfortunately, one of them was in Michigan,
    and that one was really tough on us, because they were the ones
    that did all the surveys, and those were surveys that included
    the estimates. They were very important to keeping up the
    information that led up to the Census.
        People do not realize that the Census starts for 10 years
    to get prepared. The reason is, because we have so much--they
    have so much to do and the short time of 10 years passes real
    fast when we are trying to make sure that everyone is counted.
    The benefits that is going to come back to our city.
    Unfortunately for Michigan, we lost a congressional seat. That
    is going to be really hard on us for the going forward when you
    look at how the people will fight for representation. I thought
    that was very important to mention that.
        The undercount was very specifically noticeable, because we
    did not have the partnerships. Like the Mayor had said before,
    they started late and ended early, so the issue was very clear
    there was not enough resources.
        We need you to please stress, Mr. Senator, that resources
    need to be put on now to continue; otherwise, in 2030, Michigan
    may not even be here.
        Seriously, when you look at what we need to do, we need to
    make sure that they have proper people that represent the
    community, that they go door to door, that they have nonprofits
    that are partners. I am going. ``I am going'' means that you
    need to make sure that they get the information that is being
    vital to them; the surveys, the estimates, the data, everything
    that is needed for us to grow, and I think that that is going
    to be very important as we go forward for the 2030.
        Like I said, implementation of reopening some presence of
    Michigan we think is vital, and especially to have people that
    represent our communities that have been underserved. I think
    that we need to stress that more than ever. The population
    obviously is moving more southwest, but we lost a lot of
    congressional seats in the northeast area, so we need to make
    sure that a more accurate count is done going forward.
        I think they need to really look at what exactly they did
    with any of the resources that they did have. It did not come
    back to the community, and that is something they need to
    really stress as we move forward. The Census is a very
    expensive process. We understand that, but we do know that if
    we do not have that resources that actually do the outreach to
    the community, that especially is underserved, that we are
    going to have a real problem.
        I thank you. I am hoping that you go back and you advocate
    that they look at making sure that Michigan may have some bit
    of a presence so that continues to grow, and that we do not
    lose any more population, at least the undercount, that will
    not be more significant. Thank you so much, sir.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Garcia.
        Our next witness is Maha Freij, President and CEO of Arab
    Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS). It
    is the largest Arab American community nonprofit in the United
    States. Ms. Freij is a dedicated visionary in the Arab American
    community, whose work focuses on philanthropy and building
    strong institutions to strengthen the voice of the Middle
    Eastern and North American community in American civil society.
    This has included advocacy around representation of this
    community in the Census and other Federal data. She has been a
    key leader in growing ACCESS from a regional human service
    organization to the only national Arab American community
    foundation in the United States, and a leading organization
    addressing the many complex issues that face the Arab American
    community. In addition, Ms. Freij currently serves as a member
    of the Michigan State Board of Ethics, and as a trustee on the
    Council of Michigan Foundations. Welcome to the committee. You
    may proceed with your opening remarks.

       TESTIMONY OF MAHA FREIJ,\1\ CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, ARAB
           COMMUNITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SERVICES

        Ms. Freij. Thank you Senator, and good morning, everyone.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Freij appears in the Appendix on
    page 158.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        It is truly my honor to address this Committee on behalf of
    ACCESS, the nation's largest service provider to Middle Eastern
    and North African communities. For the MENA community, and the
    entire country at large, the successful execution of the
    decennial Census is one of the most important activities that
    the United States government supports.
        The decennial Census produces our fundamental understanding
    of who lives in our country, what they need, where they are,
    and what they are going through. Input from community-based
    organizations like ACCESS is a vital part of the preparation
    for this committee's oversight process. Community-based
    organizations are the connective tissue between policymakers,
    agency officials, and individuals, families, and communities,
    who seek representation in the Census.
        This was the case for many MENA Americans and individual of
    MENA descent who fought for formal recognition by the Census
    Bureau in a long and rigorous process where the Census Bureau
    convened community representatives and technical experts around
    the question of how to best test, assess, and implement a
    response category for MENA self-identification. At the
    conclusion of this process, Census Bureau issued a formal
    recommendation to the Trump administration to use a dedicated
    Middle Eastern or North African response category.
        However, before OMB could decide on the Census Bureau's
    recommendation, the Trump administration's Department of
    Commerce decided to undermine and ignore the Census Bureau's
    official recommendation. As a result, individuals from the MENA
    region were mis-recognized on the decennial Census. They
    continue to be misunderstood, understudied, and formally
    excluded from the policymaking process. As we begin the Census
    preparation process, we must remember that a MENA response
    category has already been researched, tested, and formally
    recommended.
        We must also remember that unlike in 2018, the current
    administration supports the mission of the Census Bureau to
    develop a complete and accurate portrayal of our nation's
    diversity. ACCESS remains hopeful and expectant that a MENA
    category can be established across the Federal Government in
    time for the enumeration of the 2030 Census. However, ACCESS
    also recognizes that MENA inclusion is only part of the work of
    closing Census coverage gaps, which has historically led to
    poor Census response rates in the State of Michigan.
        In the lead up to the 2020 Census, ACCESS co-chaired the
    Michigan Nonprofit Complete Count Committee with the Michigan
    Nonprofit Association (MNA). The objectives of the committee
    were simple; to improve response rates across the State of
    Michigan and increase understanding of the Census impact by
    providing culturally and linguistically relevant civic
    education through direct engagement at the grassroots level and
    through trusted voices.
        We also intended to push back on the Trump administration's
    citizenship question, and the politicization of the Census
    Bureau's statistical function. Our impact was felt in both
    process and outcome. All together, the committee had direct
    representation of 82 out of 83 Michigan counties. We were able
    to raise the State of Michigan's response rates from near the
    bottom in previous Census periods to among the top ten
    nationwide in 2020.
        Through that work, we believe that we have built a model
    that can be replicated across the Nation to close gaps in
    Census coverage and improve the public understanding of its
    impact. Throughout the remainder of this hearing, I would be
    happy to speak other lessons learned from the preparation for
    and execution of that 2020 Census, which suffered from an
    unprecedented pandemic, a systemic politicization of
    statistical functions, and communication breakdowns between
    government and civil society.
        Among these learned lessons include the importance of
    maintaining adequate funding levels for research operations,
    field personnel, digital infrastructure, and data security. It
    also includes our lessons concerning the value of preparing
    community-based organizations to effectively communicate the
    data integrity and security of the Census operations.
        I eagerly await your questions and look forward to the work
    of preparing for the 2030 Census that returns the decennial
    Census to its original function. Thank you.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Freij.
        Our final witness is Kelley Kuhn, President and CEO of the
    Michigan Nonprofit Association, a charitable organization
    dedicated to nonprofits and the communities they serve by
    promoting anti-racism and social justice. During the Census,
    the Michigan Nonprofit Association led the statewide Census
    2020 Michigan Nonprofits Count Campaign, mobilizing nonprofits
    and government partners to encourage Census participation.
        As president and CEO, Ms. Kuhn is the driving force behind
    Michigan Nonprofit Association's strategic direction and
    operations, and has served in several different roles with the
    organization over the past 14 years, including Vice President.
    Previously, Ms. Kuhn worked for the Greater Jackson Chamber of
    Commerce, the Jackson County Community Foundation, and the
    Jackson Nonprofit Support Center.
        Ms. Kuhn, welcome to the Committee. You may proceed with
    your opening remarks.

     TESTIMONY OF KELLEY J. KUHN,\1\ PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
                OFFICER, MICHIGAN NONPROFIT ASSOCIATION

        Ms. Kuhn. Thank you, Chairman Peters.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Kuhn appears in the Appendix on
    page 163.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Good morning. My name is Kelley Kuhn, president and CEO of
    Michigan Nonprofit Association. Founded in 1990, MNA is a
    501(c)(3) statewide membership organization that serves
    nonprofits through advocacy, training and resources. MNA is
    dedicated to promoting anti-racism and social justice in the
    nonprofit sector.
        The 2020 Census was more than a population count. It was an
    opportunity to make a difference and to shape Michigan's
    future.
        MNA and the Council of Michigan Foundations, with financial
    support of more than 40 foundations and the State of Michigan
    launched an ambitious campaign to mobilize nonprofits and help
    Michigan get a complete and accurate count in the 2020 Census.
    The campaign raised more than $10 million and engaged hundreds
    of nonprofits in a nonpartisan, multi-racial coalition with
    for-profit organizations and government.
        Nonprofits invested energy, time, and commitment in the
    Michigan Nonprofit Counts Campaign to ensure a fair and
    accurate Census for all communities--particularly Michigan's
    historically undercounted populations--people of color,
    immigrants and their families, young children, seniors, people
    living in poverty, and people experiencing homelessness. The
    undercount has led to inequality in political power, government
    funding, and private-sector investments for these communities;
    thus, the Nonprofit Counts Campaign was developed, leveraging
    nonprofits as trusted outreach partners with a specific goal to
    reach these undercounted groups.
        To reach diverse populations and encourage completion of
    the Census, as well as serve as champions of the campaign, MNA
    entered into a partnership with New Michigan Media, a network
    that includes more than 140 ethnic and non-traditional media
    outlets across Michigan. Dr. Hayg Oshagan, president of New
    Michigan Media, convened three minority media summits that
    informed the messaging directions of the campaign.
        The campaign's intentional focus on diversity, equity, and
    inclusion in grantmaking resulted in all grants being awarded
    to organizations serving historically undercounted populations.
        The campaign worked with government officials at all levels
    to maximize effectiveness. This cooperation primarily resulted
    in avoiding duplication of efforts and enhancing outreach. We
    received regular updates from Michigan's State demographer,
    collaborated with the Census Bureau's partnership specialists,
    and held specific training sessions and webinars on how to
    engage local government entities so they were ready for the
    2020 Census.
        While getting the Census count has never been an easy task,
    when we started this journey in 2017, we could not have
    predicted what was to come in 2020. We faced multiple
    challenges, including confusion over the late addition of a
    citizenship question, disinformation, misinformation, and a
    global pandemic that caused shifting deadlines and wreaked
    havoc with our Get-Out-The-Count plans.
        With Michigan under a stay-at-home order and suffering one
    of the highest COVID-19 rates in the nation in the spring of
    2020, the Nonprofit Counts Campaign had to quickly retool.
    Nonprofits were creative and flexible, yet still sensitive and
    safe, given the crisis. The campaign adjusted by expanding
    digital outreach, creating videos for children now that kids
    were at home, expanding texting campaigns and identifying new
    partners. Nonprofits also had a presence in the few places
    people were still frequenting in person, such as food banks.
    Filling out the Census online, by mail or over the phone was
    not an option for some due to a lack of internet access,
    language, reading barriers and other concerns.
        Thanks in part to Nonprofits' hard work, Michigan finished
    eighth in the United States in self-response rate. On June 17,
    2020, we became the first State in the nation to have exceeded
    its 2010 self-response rate. We also ranked third-best in the
    nation for the largest gain in statewide response from the 2010
    Census, rising from 67.7 percent to 71.3 percent.
        Most importantly, at the local level, in every Census tract
    where the Nonprofit Campaign was active, the self-response rate
    averaged seven percent higher than in Census tracts where the
    campaign was not active.
        Going forward, we are sharing concrete examples of ways our
    partners can engage in Census work throughout the decade.
    Underlying the activities are the policy and advocacy work that
    needs to be done all decade long to ensure adequate funding for
    the Census Bureau, advocacy for updated questionnaires,
    including revised race/ethnicity questions, and sexual
    orientation and gender identity questions, and input on
    operational changes, and any legislative recommendations
    resulting from the experiences and aftermath of the 2020
    Census.
        MNA regularly communicates with the network that was built
    in 2020. We include results of the Census data, webinars on
    using the data, opportunities for advocacy, and much more. By
    investing our time now, we can lay a strong foundation for
    those who will work to get our communities counted in 2030.
        The success that Michigan had in the 2020 Census could not
    have happened without nonprofits. Nonprofits are trusted
    entities serving as catalysts for continued civic and community
    engagement.
        The Nonprofit Counts campaign built a strong foundation for
    a fairer and more equitable Michigan, where everyone counts,
    and every voice is heard.
        I would like to thank Chairman Peters and his staff for the
    opportunity to speak today. We are grateful for your work on
    the Census and everything you do on behalf of Michigan's
    nonprofits. Thank you.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Kuhn, and thank you to each
    of our witnesses here today.
        It is clear in listening to the testimony that we had some
    significant challenges before us to get through this Census.
    Some of these issues emerged early. I would argue that part of
    the problem was the fact that the Republican Congress in place
    from 2012 to 2016 under-invested in the Census, and as many of
    you mentioned, early investments are critically important for
    getting an accurate count at the end. Then we had the COVID
    pandemic hit. That added even more challenges that made that
    problem even more apparent.
        In addition, and I have heard from some of you about Trump
    administration interference, and clearly, we saw that firsthand
    in the final months and weeks as the administration actually
    cut the Census short. When we were trying to make sure the time
    was taken to actually make sure that we have an accurate count,
    it was cut short. This occurred despite a lot of pushback from
    myself and my colleagues, as well as all of you on the ground
    who were saying, ``We need to make sure we do this right. Let's
    not cut this short.'' That's what happened.
        My question then, for all of the witnesses--I will start
    with you, Mayor Duggan, and then I think we just go down the
    table in the order that you are at. You have already discussed
    some of the top challenges, but I think for the Committee
    record, it is important for us to hear.
        Now, what were the top one or two challenges that were
    really very difficult in your community, or the communities
    that you serve, that we certainly want to focus on all the
    challenges. But what are the two things that stand out that we
    need to be focused on, Mayor?
        Mr. Duggan. As a number of the witnesses have indicated, we
    had an enormous community effort going. The problem was
    entirely the central staffing, and there were some dedicated
    workers working for the Census Bureau, lifetime Detroiters who
    were out there, and they were telling us, ``We cannot get our
    lists.'' Then as it got to be September and they were behind,
    they started getting messages from the Census Bureau: ``$500
    relocation fee if you will move to Indiana.'' The time Detroit
    was the furthest behind, the Census Bureau was incentivizing
    lifetime Detroiters to move to another State.
        Probably the most depressing thing--and something I hope
    somebody will look into--in May the Census Bureau had decided
    to go from 10 weeks to seven weeks non-response follow-up. But
    in May, they said, ``We are going to put resources in in 12
    States to start a week early, add a week to the non-response
    follow-up.'' We were excited. We were gearing to get up early.
    They were genuinely trying.
        Then when they announced where the extra week was in the
    State of Michigan, it was in Oakland County. Now, at the time,
    Oakland County had a 77 percent response rate; Detroit had a 49
    percent response rate. The Census Bureau said, ``We are going
    to put extra counting effort in to the State of Michigan, and
    it is going to go to Oakland County.'' This was it. No matter
    what everybody here did, when the people who are actually
    running the program stick their thumb on the scale, it just
    became impossible to overcome.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Mayor.
        Dr. Morenoff, what did you see? What is a significant
    challenge or two?
        Dr. Morenoff. Yes, thank you. We have talked about some of
    these. We have talked about the uncertainty related to the
    pandemic. We also talked about the uncertainty and chaos from
    the proposal to add a citizenship question. What it definitely
    did not touch on as much was the budgetary uncertainty that the
    Census faced, especially in the years leading up to the Census,
    which led to the cancellation of some tests and programs; one
    of them being the active block resolution program, which would
    have more effectively guided the field operation.
        But as the Mayor was pointing out, I think the biggest
    challenge here was, the set of challenges were the ones
    associated with the non-response follow-up operation. There was
    this emphasis in the 2020 Census for the first time on internet
    self-response. As the Mayor already indicated in his testimony,
    that created real disparity, especially in Black and Brown
    communities where people have less access to the internet. It
    also led to a lower self-response rate citywide in 2020 than we
    had in 2010, when it was more of a paper-pencil operation.
        I also want to emphasize that in our data, this housing
    audit that I talked about, we found that the housing undercount
    that we documented was three and a half times more pronounced
    in neighborhoods with the lowest self-response rates. That is
    where less than a quarter of the residents were able to self-
    respond to the Census, compared to those in the highest self-
    response neighborhoods with the highest self-response rates
    where over three-quarters were able to self-respond on the
    internet.
        These are the places that need the most field work, the
    most non-response follow-up operation. The very powerful
    statements attached to the Mayor's testimony from Census
    workers really show clearly that they were not getting it. It
    was late getting started, early ending, but it was also
    mismanaged along the way.
        I think what is illuminating here is that the Census has
    already showed us--the Census Bureau, that when you have to be
    more non-response follow-up, you are likely to get less
    accurate population counts. We are showing that that also holds
    true for housing counts, that one of the reasons why we are not
    counting enough population is that we are not sending enough
    field workers out to actually illuminate the housing units,
    which is then translating into an undercount in the population.
    Thanks.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Mr. Anderson.
        Mr. Anderson. Yes, Senator. It is hard to add anything
    after the Mayor and Dr. Morenoff speaks. But I would like to
    add that, as Ms. Garcia mentioned in her testimony, the Census
    closed offices. Historically, there had been people between
    2010, 2020, or folk who you worked with, you were involved
    with; they were part of the community, they knew the community
    and you had a relationship with them--and so those ongoing,
    year-round relationships were lost when offices were closed and
    staff were relocated, and you started hiring people who were
    not familiar--or as the Mayor said, were incentivized to leave
    the community. I think there were mixed messaging.
        The messages that were out there were the questions about
    citizenship, questions about whether the Census was going to
    end early or continue on. As Ms. Kuhn was saying, the community
    is making all of this effort, nonprofits are talking to people,
    and then we are being challenged by what others are saying. I
    would add that that was part of the problem for making sure the
    Census count was accurate.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Ms. Garcia.
        Ms. Garcia. Yes. Thank you, Senator. One of the things I
    think is real important, like we had mentioned, presence is
    going to be very important as we move forward, and we do not
    have the presence today. I think that immediately a presence of
    some kind of a regional offices, maybe that can continue.
    Nowhere in our history had we ever seen the government cut 50
    percent of any governmental units in an area. They went from 12
    regional offices to six. That just added to the confusion.
        I also think that as you look forward, Senator, that you
    look at the people that are at the Bureau of the Census, and
    please do not put the people that are at the Bureau of the
    Census in charge of the 2030. Obviously, I am not very
    confident that the ones that were in charge did a good job for
    2020, so I think all that needs to be looked at. Because I
    think it is very important that partnerships be emphasized,
    because partnerships and relationships--to making sure, whether
    it is the Indian reservations or our local communities that do
    not get left out because there is a relationship, that we
    continue to build on that. I would appreciate that, sir.
        Chairman Peters. Absolutely. Thank you. Ms. Freij.
        Ms. Freij. Senator, a lot has been said, of course. But the
    main thing I want to reemphasize here for our community in
    particular, that the biggest challenge was the fear and
    mistrust that developed in the community because of the
    politicization of the operations of the Census. Of course,
    having the pandemic and dealing with an immigrant community
    that has layers in terms of language and other barriers. With
    the pandemic, people needed access to Wi-Fi. They needed to be
    comfortable with using digital tools. All these I would say
    they were major, major, special challenges during the 2020
    Census, in particular for our community.
        In addition, the funding level and investment from the
    Census Bureau was not really implemented as it was originally
    planned for. Investment in community-based efforts to have
    education campaigns and adequate number of workers that would
    reach out to community members, and hold them by the arm, and
    gain their trust to make sure that they do fill the Census were
    cut short, and these efforts were actually funded by the
    private foundations and State government. I would say these two
    areas are the main biggest challenges we faced.
        Chairman Peters. All right. Thank you. Ms. Kuhn.
        Ms. Kihn. Thank you. From the very beginning, just echoing
    what has already been said, there was a lot of confusion,
    misinformation, and a lack of understanding of how the Census
    data was--and how it is to be used for.
        Also, what has already been stated, the lack of trust. When
    we think about trust in Federal and local government, for some
    it was about experiences in countries from which they have
    immigrated, as well as experiences that they have had while
    being in the United States.
        Last, there was security concerns and lack of understanding
    of how protected the data is. These were concerns throughout
    the campaign that we experienced and were very difficult to
    overcome in the communities that we were working with.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. I am going to ask this question
    of all the witnesses again, and we are going to keep the same
    format. Mayor Duggan will kick it off.
        We have raised a number of challenges, and I want to drill
    deeper into these challenges, because we make improvements, and
    also have an opportunity to fix what may not have worked the
    first time, because it has a significant impact on communities.
    I am going to spend quite a bit of time on that. But before we
    do that, I think it is also important for us to focus on some
    successes. We had a lot of great work.
        All of you were involved in a lot of great work here on the
    ground to get out the work. I would like each of you to mention
    what you think was a success in the 2020 Census, what was
    perhaps an improvement from 2010, and perhaps some local
    efforts that we should look at as a model going forward for
    future Censuses, because clearly we did a lot of great things
    on the ground.
        Mayor, you were instrumental here. I know there were a lot
    of great successes in the city of Detroit. I would like to hear
    a little bit of that for the committee's benefit.
        Mr. Duggan. In the city and statewide, I have never seen
    the level of cooperation. We had the Latino community, the Arab
    American community, the Asian communities. You go right down
    the list--the Bengali communities. We had people out with
    trusted voices everywhere, and I think it did pay off
    statewide. Across the State of Michigan, there was an uptick,
    and it was because of all of the efforts that you heard about
    today, and I think there is a lot to be proud of in the
    community effort. The problem was the people actually in charge
    of counting were not there. But I think everybody up here ought
    to take credit for really what turned out to be a remarkable
    number statewide.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Mayor. Dr. Morenoff.
        Dr. Morenoff. Yes, thank you. I would echo everything the
    Mayor just said, and also add a few thoughts of my own. First
    of all, the mere fact that the 2020 Census was completed as
    close to schedule as it was is a major accomplishment. Despite
    all the criticisms I have of the way that the 2020 Census was
    operated, especially locally, the Bureau itself and the really
    fine data scientists and people working at the Census Bureau
    deserve a ton of credit for adapting to the most difficult of
    circumstances.
        They also deserve credit for some planning in the years
    leading up to the Census really early on, as some of our
    witnesses have talked about. These include things like the
    increased use of field automation, the wider use of
    administrative records in Census processes, a modernization of
    the way they develop address lists, increased use of internet
    response, and this new non-ID processing system, which made it
    more feasible for people to complete a Census return anytime,
    anywhere, without requiring contact in the mail or by an
    enumerator.
        The problem is that these are things that work very well
    nationally, on a global scale, but the Census count is really a
    hyper-local phenomenon, and they do not work equally well
    everywhere. As we have already talked about, in places where so
    many people have trouble accessing the internet, where
    administrative records may not be as complete and accurate as
    they are in other parts of the country, we cannot depend on
    these innovative, but, in other places very successful efforts.
    We need more work on things like the ground game, the non-
    response follow-up operation, which we have already talked
    about. Thanks.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Mr. Anderson.
        Mr. Anderson. Yes. As I said in my written testimony, I did
    give commendations to some of the regional staff that were in
    place, the professionalism that in spite of political
    interference, they persevered and pressed on to get the job
    done. But I also thought it was helpful and very significant
    that Mayor put resources in place, hiring Vicki Kevari and
    others, and got the community involved in thinking about the
    Census very early.
        It was important that the Michigan Nonprofit Association
    received significant support, as Kelley indicated. 10 million-
    plus dollars from State and other monies were made available so
    we were able to run commercials, to use social media, and do a
    number of things to try to bring the Census alive to the
    community and make sure people knew about what was happening. I
    thought those were all important steps that were made toward
    the Census 2020.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Ms. Garcia.
        Ms. Garcia. I think that one of the things that were real
    positive, it could have been a lot worse, Senator, had we not
    had all these people on the ground; it could have been a lot
    worse. I think that when you look at that aspects, all the work
    that the nonprofits did kind of picked up the ball where the
    government was not present here. They are the ones that,
    whether people like it or not--and there was an undercount, and
    historically, there's been an undercount, so it's just an issue
    of trust. You know, the issue of people did not answer the
    doors automatically, and during the pandemic, it got worse,
    people did not come to the doors, so the enumeration was very
    difficult for the people that were hired for the enumeration.
        But I think that all the work that the nonprofits did I
    think did help, and I think that the issue was like it could
    have been a lot worse. That is what I keep looking at that
    aspects. I think the networks that were made between the
    nonprofits, to know how important because we have been working
    on this for a long time, to know how important it was I thought
    developed that network that also brought the Bureau of the
    Census questions to them, and saying, ``Hey, we need this; we
    need that.'' It was very late coming.
        They used to have an advisory board in Washington, and that
    was eliminated during the 2020, so there was a lot of things
    that could have been worse. When you look at that aspect, I
    think that because of our partnerships, that we may have not
    gotten the number that we wanted, or the number that we know
    that we should have, but at least it could have been a lot
    worse, Senator.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you.
        Ms. Garcia. Gracias.
        Ms. Freij. For me, Senator, I am a big fan of the
    resilience and the innovation of communities on the ground, any
    grassroots kind of efforts where, they need to be celebrated
    and emphasized. For me, the work of the Michigan Complete Count
    Committee and our partnership with the Michigan Nonprofit
    Association, is really truly something to celebrate and to
    replicate all over the country in the future.
        We had some success in this in Michigan. It was truly a
    partnership between, communities, government, businesses, and
    private foundations. We all came together and we made sure that
    we reached out to community-based organizations in 82 of the
    counties of the 83 counties in Michigan, and we made sure that
    they are provided with the resources that they need to make
    them effective at running the educational campaigns and the
    field work that will allow them to be impactful in engaging the
    constituencies that they are serving and thus increase the
    participation response from those communities.
        This is something that in my book needs to be celebrated a
    great deal, and needs to be replicated all over the country in
    the 2030 Census.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Ms. Kuhn.
        Ms. Kuhn. Thank you. I will just add that one of the big
    successes for our campaign was the multiple ways for people to
    fill out the Census. We appreciated the intentional effort to
    have materials in various language. We found that very helpful.
    Also, I think it is important to lift up a very great example
    of some local efforts, keeping in mind that on April 1, 2020,
    we designated that as ``Census Day.'' Imagine within a few days
    of the lockdown nearly every planned Census event was canceled,
    and the effects rippled throughout communities around the
    State.
        In Detroit alone, at least 90 Census promotional events
    were canceled and replaced by virtual phone banks run by the
    City's Census captains. With original plans on hold
    indefinitely, nonprofit organizations changed course. For
    example, groups began distributing Census information on flyers
    through programs such as Gleaners Community Food Banks,
    community food distributionsites, Meals On Wheels, and Detroit
    Area Agency on Aging. Along with the Census information,
    organizations also doled out gloves, masks, hand sanitizers,
    and social distance reminders to help mitigate COVID-19
    transmission in the city, which was devastated by the
    Coronavirus pandemic.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Ms. Kuhn.
        I want to continue to talk a little bit about community
    outreach efforts before we tackle some other important issues.
    The Bureau certainly seemed to work to forge some relationships
    through their partnership programs. Some of you have alluded to
    that in your testimony. They did some targeted advertising in
    local media. They provided the Census in 13 different
    languages.
        However, I think we all agree, and I certainly have heard
    this from most of you, that they were slow when it came to
    providing in-person types of contacts, which are particularly
    critical for hard to count areas. They were slow to set up
    assistance centers, especially in those areas with less
    internet access, which is what we find here, clearly, in the
    city of Detroit. We pushed the Bureau. We did provide
    additional funding for those assistance centers; however, I do
    not think that was ever fully implemented, unfortunately, by
    the folks who were running that, and it should have been.
        But what I would like to ask each of you is that when it
    comes to community outreach specifically, is there something
    you would have added that just simply was not done by the
    Census Bureau that they should have done to help us reach
    particularly hard to count folks in the city of Detroit as well
    as other places around the State?
        Mayor, what would you suggest?
        Mr. Duggan. Mr. Chairman, I am going to go back to my time
    in 1980 as a follow-up response enumerator, knocking on doors
    in Ann Arbor. Pre-computer, they gave me a stack of blank forms
    and 300 addresses, and those were my assignments for the week.
    I went and knocked on doors and neighborhoods in racially mixed
    neighborhoods in Ann Arbor. Anybody who wants to tell you about
    the theory about racial undercount, I saw it firsthand.
        When the government knocks on the doors of Black and Brown
    families and wants to know who lives in the house, how much do
    you make, and what your jobs are, they are more distrustful of
    the government rep knocking on the door than Caucasians are.
    That is the truth. There have been a lot of studies to show it.
        But I feel like I can relate to anybody. I saw it
    firsthand, and I do not think the Census Bureau can do it. I
    think it has to be the groups like these; it has to be the
    trusted voices. I think it is something that with the exception
    of the outreach getting stopped by the COVID, we did well. We
    had every single group in the city; we had trusted voices in
    the community, at the neighborhood events, and so I do not
    blame the Census Bureau for that. I think the trusted voice
    outreach has to come from us. That is where the partnership
    needs to be. We just want to make sure once the trusted voices
    say ``Do this,'' somebody actually shows up at the door and
    takes your information.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you, Mayor. Dr. Morenoff.
        Dr. Morenoff. Yes, thank you. Thank you, Senator Peters. My
    colleagues on this panel know a tremendous amount about
    community outreach and can speak from their perspectives much
    more strongly to this than I can. I am going to take a more
    expansive view of the question here and talk about community
    outreach in the form of interfacing between the Census Bureau
    and local governments.
        I want to talk about something called the ``Local Update of
    Census Address (LUCA)'' operation which takes place in the
    years leading up to the Census, particularly in 2018-2019. This
    was created in 1994 by Congress through the Census Address List
    Improvement Act, which was really revolutionary at the time. It
    gave local governments an opportunity to review the address
    lists that the Census was using to go out and do its
    enumeration. I can assure you, if we did not have that in
    place, the results would be even worse.
        The problem is that it is only a limited opportunity to
    review those lists, and that window of opportunity ends before
    the Census operation begins in around 2019. As the Mayor
    alluded to in his testimony, we saw that the count that the
    Census Bureau had in its master address file in 2019 dropped by
    over 58,000 housing units in the 2020 Census, but we do not
    know how, because the city or researchers are not allowed to
    see the updated master address file.
        I think that Congress can play a really constructive role
    here in expanding the LUCA operation, by going back and
    revisiting that really important 1994 legislation and providing
    for a more continual partnership between local governments and
    the Census Bureau in developing and updating the master address
    file, which could really help lead to a more accurate count and
    fewer mistakes of the kind that we're seeing in Detroit.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Mr. Anderson.
        Mr. Anderson. Yes. I will try to say this as succinctly as
    possible, but certainly seek or maintain community partnerships
    leading up to the Census, try to maintain the simplicity. And
    technology could only improve,
        What we had this April 1st. The opportunity to go online
    and within five minutes or less, complete the Census, I would
    imagine that going forward, that process could be even more
    simplified.
        Ms. Garcia. Senator, I will go back to the resources. I
    think that is very important. I did four Censuses. I think of
    all the Censuses that I did, 2000 was one of the best, and it
    is because they poured all the resources they could for the
    accurate count, for the return addresses, the follow-up. They
    just spent a lot of money to make sure that we had an accurate
    count. We still had an undercount, but it would have been a lot
    worse.
        I think you have to depend on the resources, and they
    should start, like, not two years before the next Census, but
    some sort of ongoing through the whole decade, so that by the
    time you hit two years before the Census, people are not afraid
    to at least understand and educate them to understand why they
    have to fill out the Census, and how important it is to their
    community, whether they put up a new school, or they put up a
    new clinic. I think that that is something that is very
    important.
        We deal with migrants, and migrants come and go, and we
    want to make sure they are counted where they are living at at
    the time of April 1st. Those are the things that I think needs
    to be in place so that we can improve how our numbers are for
    the State and how much resources will come back for the next 10
    years.
        Ms. Freij. For me, I want to reemphasize how Mayor Duggan
    answered this question. We know that the Census Bureau is a
    professional institution with very talented scientists who put
    together the digital tools and the data security tools, and
    developed scientific kind of tools that were provided to our
    communities.
        The only issue is that the dissemination of these resources
    cannot and could not be done in an effective way by those
    professionals. There is a need to depend on community-based,
    trusted voices that can take these tools and make sure that
    they are disseminated to the actual participants and
    communities that these organizations serve.
        Ms. Kuhn. I will add a couple things. I would consider
    starting earlier with the partnership specialists in
    communities. Some communities, they were very successful, and
    others, we had not so much success. Also, when thinking about
    that as the Bureau gears up for 2030, they should take into
    consideration maybe more ethnic Census field workers to create
    greater trust in these communities, as many of us have said on
    the panel. Last, we would also like to see a stronger role for
    ethnic and nontraditional media in the overall communications
    plan, especially for small media outlets. Michigan has a robust
    network, which is an asset. Not many other States have that,
    and we should take advantage of their trust and reach in
    community.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. I have a more directed question
    here, just to Ms. Freij, related to the Arab American
    population and some of the unique challenges of counting that
    community. I have certainly been fighting for a long time to
    have a separate category for people of Middle Eastern and North
    African descent, which we call the MENA category.
        We were making some real progress with a long fight up
    through 2016, until the Trump administration basically put a
    halt to that and ended that program. We are continuing to
    fight, however, as you know. I am happy to say that OMB has now
    elevated this as a priority, and in June announced that they
    are going to begin the process to revise these standards, which
    I think are very encouraging.
        Ms. Freij. Yes.
        Chairman Peters. But I would like to have you speak on the
    record as to how do you believe that OMB including the MENA
    category in the standard is going to help not only the Census
    Bureau but also other Federal agencies collect more accurate
    and more inclusive data that we need in order to make sure we
    deal with the unique needs of this community.
        Ms. Freij. Thank you so much for this question, Senator. As
    I said earlier, we remain hopeful and expectant that the OMB
    will move to establish a MENA category across the Federal
    Government when they revise the Federal standards for data on
    race and ethnicity. Our expectation is due in large part to
    your strategy support for the civil and human right of our
    community to statistical recognition and political
    representation. Thank you very much for your leadership,
    Senator.
        There are two ways we think that a MENA category will help
    all Federal agencies collect more accurate and inclusive data.
    First, the Census Bureau already tested the practical utility
    and statistical validity of a MENA response category. In the
    2015 national content test, they found it captured the survey
    responses of those in the MENA working definition. It did not
    capture the responses of those who could have thought they were
    MENA, but were not in the working definition, and it made more
    individuals, particularly Black and Hispanic individuals, sure
    of their self-identification.
        These findings cast into stark reality that the MENA
    category is just a good statistical category, and it resonates
    with a discrete population that is conscious of itself in its
    terms. It is unambiguous, and it improves Census response
    rates.
        Second, through the direct service work of ACCESS and other
    MENA community serving organizations within the national
    network for Arab American communities, we have observed that
    individuals of MENA descent tend to share certain
    characteristics not yet captured in Federal data, namely
    individuals of MENA descent tend to have limited English
    proficiency, limited access to capital, poor or desperate
    health outcomes, and barriers to establish pathways to sustain
    and inter-generational academic and professional achievement. A
    MENA category would allow the litany of Federal policies and
    programs that rely upon racial and ethnic data to recognize and
    address these conditions in their authorized activities.
        In conclusion, a MENA category provides for more accurate
    and inclusive data from a statistical perspective, and
    increases the use-value of statistical products across all
    Federal agencies.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you.
        The Census Bureau has now released some key Census results,
    including undercount data. Despite the previous
    administration's interference, which all of you have referred
    to, the career officials certainly persisted to take some time
    to process the data, and they have also released many studies
    about the quality of that data, as you know. Unfortunately, the
    data have revealed nationwide undercounts for many groups,
    especially minorities.
        I think the Mayor alluded to these numbers--in your
    testimony, Mayor--Black people were undercounted by three
    percent, Latinos by nearly five percent, which is three times
    the 2010 undercount. There are also undercounts for Native
    Americans, Asian Americans, young people, people who rent their
    homes, and so much more. The Bureau unfortunately does not
    tabulate local level undercounts, and has serious implications
    for Michigan and some of our communities.
        Dr. Morenoff, I am going to start with you. You have
    described your study on the likely undercount here in Detroit.
    My question to you is how does this compare to other cities?
    How does this fit into the national undercount data that has
    now been released by the Census Bureau?
        Dr. Morenoff. Yes. Thank you, Senator Peters. Thank you,
    also, for emphasizing the need for more local data on these
    metrics for how the Census is performing, the post-enumeration
    survey, in particular. First, in some ways, the problems that
    were encountered in Detroit are emblematic of national trends.
    In other ways, it is really unique. Let me start with the
    commonalities.
        I see at least three commonalities. One of them you have
    already referred to, which is the undercounting of Black and
    Brown people, and the Mayor already gave you their specific
    numbers. Another group that maybe receives less attention than
    it needs to is households that are renting housing are
    undercounted relative to households that own their housing.
    Detroit is a majority renter city, so that is important to
    emphasize.
        Then the third one is one that I have already referred to,
    but I will say again, that areas with lower self-response rates
    tend to get undercounted relative to areas with higher self-
    response rates. Detroit was last in terms of the top 50 cities
    in its self-response rate. These are all ways that Detroit fits
    into the national pattern, but they are also very important
    ways where it is a unique anomaly. I provide a lot of this data
    in my written testimony.
        But when you look at a comparison of say the 50 largest
    cities, and look at the population loss, the nearest comparable
    cities are places like Phoenix, San Antonio, Miami. What those
    places have in common are very large proportions of foreign-
    born populations, and Latino populations, in particular. I am
    not saying this is not a factor in Detroit, and it certainly
    is. But not to the extent that it is in these other cities
    where probably the kerfuffle over the introduction or the
    proposed introduction of the citizenship question and the
    profound distrust that developed as a result of that had really
    profound effects on the undercount.
        What makes Detroit distinct is that among all these cities,
    it was the only one that experienced not only a severe drop in
    its population count, but also an even more severe drop in its
    housing count. I think this is important because some other
    people might say, ``Well, maybe this was just a result of the
    pandemic and people leaving the city.'' There is two reasons
    why I do not think this is an explanation for what happened in
    the 2020 Census.
        One of them is that if you look at national trends, the
    cities that lost the most population due to the pandemic, that
    happened in the subsequent year, 2020 to 2021. The second
    reason is that the pandemic might provide an account for why
    people are leaving cities, but it does not provide an account
    for why housing units are being dropped from the books, and
    that is what is happening in Detroit. This tie-in to the
    population undercount being hidden by the housing undercount
    really points to some unique circumstances that I think are
    really more reflective of the field operations that were not
    going out and counting enough people in these housing units.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Actually, I have been reviewing
    this excellent report you put out, ``The Analysis of the Census
    2020 Count in Detroit from the University of Michigan,''
    December 2021. This is an incredibly comprehensive document
    that really takes a look at the undercount that occurred here
    in Detroit, and how significant it is, and reasons. I am going
    to enter this into the Congressional Record (CR) here from the
    hearing so that we can refer to that. But I certainly want to
    applaud the work that the University of Michigan has done on
    this issue.
        Dr. Morenoff. Thank you so much, Senator Peters. I and my
    colleagues greatly appreciate that.
        I know it was a group effort, but we appreciate everybody.
        Mayor Duggan, as we have discussed, the study that we are
    entering into the record here shows undercounted households in
    some Detroit neighborhoods by as much as 8.1 percent, over
    eight percent. We know Detroit is home to many of the groups
    that has been discussed that are undercounted on the national
    level, majority African American city, high percentage of
    renters, diversity. But I think it is important for this
    Committee and for folks to realize what the impact of this
    undercount will mean to the city of Detroit, why we have to get
    this right. This certainly has significant implications. Could
    you explain on the record for why we have to get this right?
        Mr. Duggan.
         We have been cut already, $10 million a year nearly in
    State revenue sharing for police, fire, and other services and
    virtually every aspect of the Federal Government from housing
    to hot lunch to Medicaid funding is driven by it. Here is to me
    the most interesting thing about what we have seen: I have
    noticed with interest that the Pentagon has acknowledged the
    possibility of unidentified flying objec (UFOs) and has started
    to study them.
        To me, the Census Bureau numbers in Detroit are even more
    remarkable. They have proven the existence of ghosts, because
    DTE has 280,000 housing units that are paying their light and
    gas bill, and the Census Bureau says we have fewer than 255,000
    households. Who is occupying those other 25,000 households,
    paying the gas and light bills? There is two possibilities; we
    have either been invaded by a group of ghosts, or the Census
    Bureau data is wrong.
        Senator, all I keep asking for is the same thing. If we can
    have an appeal process where we can bring in objective data,
    like the University of Michigan report that you just entered
    into the record, no reasonable person will conclude that our
    number is correct.
        Here is the thing that aggravates me: Why are we a year and
    a half later? It is not that complicated. You write something
    that says, ``If you believe you were undercounted, here are the
    kinds of outside objective evidence data points that you can
    present, and we will consider them.'' With the annual estimates
    now, there is even less defense.
        Here is what they do when they jump from 2021 to 2022--
    there is no privacy involved--they run a math calculation;
    birth rates, death rates, permits, how many people filed income
    taxes, how many people were on Medicare. It's a straight
    calculation. There is no way in the world 7,000 people left the
    city of Detroit in the last year.
        There is nothing secret about that calculation. Have them
    put the calculation out there and let us then objectively--I do
    not want any special treatment. All I want is to show you
    clearly and objectively what we have, but there is no urgency.
    If I were a banker sitting in front of your Committee with
    clear evidence that we had discriminated racially among the
    people that we are making loans to, you and Congress would be
    outraged and demand immediate action from the Federal
    Government.
        We are sitting here a year and half later with people being
    discriminated against because of their color in the city of
    Detroit, and the Census Bureau has not even put out an appeal
    process. It is time we hold our own government to the same
    level of urgency to address racism that we would for any
    private company. I am hoping that is what comes out of this
    hearing.
        Chairman Peters. Absolutely, Mayor. There is no question we
    have to get this right. As you said, it is not special
    treatment; it is just being treated fairly, make sure you count
    every individual that is there. In hard to count areas, these
    are folks who need to be counted, without question. As you
    know, we have been fighting this for some time, and certainly
    believe that State, local, tribal governments all need to have
    the equal opportunities across the country to challenge the
    Census where it is appropriate, and where there is objective
    data to back up their assertions. I pushed to create some of
    these programs.
        After my advocacy last year, the Bureau has created a The
    Post-Census Group Quarters Review program, which does allow
    localities to submit new data for missing group quarters, like
    nursing homes, colleges, prisons, that data is going to be part
    of the annual population estimates, as you know, and which is a
    basis for central funding.
        Mr. Duggan. A good step in the right direction.
        Chairman Peters. We have taken that first step, but like
    all good solutions, they usually require more than one step,
    but it does not start until the first step. We have started it
    with the first step, and we are trying to push the Bureau to
    expand the Population Estimates Challenge Program to give you
    more opportunities to have that input for the data.
        My question for you, Mayor, is how has the City
    participated in the existing program to help with the
    undercount, including the Count Question Resolution program and
    this new Group Quarters Review program? Do you believe that
    will provide some help for residents?
        Mr. Duggan. Yes. I would defer to Professor Morenoff, who
    is more into that. But we have filed an appeal on that. We do
    believe that there are such clear mistakes on that. We will get
    some relief from that. It actually only allows us to appeal a
    small part of the problem. Professor Morenoff could probably
    describe the appeal better than I can.
        Dr. Morenoff. Yes. The Mayor is referring to the Count
    Question Resolution program, which allows local entities to
    challenge the results of the decennial Census, the 2020 Census.
    The problem is that the grounds on which you can mount those
    challenges are very narrow. There is only two types of
    challenges you can mount. One of them is what they call
    ``boundary issues.'' That is when you are contesting, like, the
    geography of where a certain housing unit was counted. We
    thankfully did not have many of those issues in Detroit.
        The other one are housing issues, and we did have a lot of
    those in Detroit. The way to challenge the population count is
    through challenging the housing count; that is the way that the
    Census sets it up. That is what led to that extensive auditing
    of housing that we did. I worked with folks at the city to help
    run that process, and we did an extensive look at all the
    housing units on a set of blocks that we were challenging. That
    process is now in operation; it is being reviewed by the
    Census. But as the Mayor points out, what is really important
    in looking forward, in addition to the Group Quarters
    challenge, which is a critically important new addition to this
    process, and was also something that we are in the process of
    working on and through a lot of groundwork now, my colleagues
    have found, hundreds of people living in group quarters beds
    that we think were unaccounted for in the Census, so that
    challenge is forthcoming.
        There's also going to be a challenge, we hope, to the
    Population Estimates Program, but we need the census to
    reinstate that program, and to also expand the way that it
    allows for challenges to occur, because there are some nuances
    to those rules that are frankly that kind of handcuff local
    governments. Like for one them, it's called the ``County
    Capital,'' which is that if Detroit wants to challenge its
    population count, the Census Bureau might adjust the population
    estimate, but only in a way that the overall population for the
    County doesn't change. So adding more people to Detroit would
    mean taking people away from the rest of Wayne County, and that
    is just patently not the way to go about this. It's absurd.
        Chairman Peters. I would like you to expand, if you would.
    You have these existing options that you're pursuing now. But
    specifically, what should the Census Bureau do right now to
    provide an opportunity for the city of Detroit and any other
    community in the State of Michigan to challenge the count? What
    specifically? And this is both to the Mayor and to Dr. Morenoff
    both.
        Mr. Duggan. We would like a very clear process that says,
    one, you can challenge the decennial Census, the 2020 census.
    We know we cannot project ourselves back in time, which is what
    makes challenging Census counts from April 2020 so hard, but
    that we can present outside objective data. Director Santos has
    already said the count was wrong.
        All I want is a chance to present objective data of what
    was right. It could be things like housing permits; it could be
    things like inspections; it could be things like the University
    of Michigan door-to-door study; it could be things like DTE's
    records on electricity. What we would like the ability to do is
    say, ``Here is what we think the accurate count is. Here is the
    object''--and you can verify. It is not us complaining.
        Then on the annual estimates, which in some ways may turn
    out to be more devastating to us, because they affect our
    Federal money every year, make the formula public, and let us
    challenge that with objective data. That is all we want is
    transparency and the ability to present objective data.
    Professor Morenoff can talk more about the data we want. But we
    do not want to do anything except objective verifiable data to
    challenge those numbers.
        Dr. Morenoff. Yes. I really do not have much to add to
    that. I think the Mayor put it very succinctly. We do need more
    transparency and the ability to marshall the appropriate types
    of data that the Census Bureau will look at and match up to
    their data, and really provide a fair comparison between what
    they counted and what we see as objective evidence of the
    number of people and the number of housing units in the city. I
    continue to work with the City to try to marshall as much of
    that administrative data as we can, things like building
    permits, demolition permits.
        We are trying to make sure--and I think every city--
    unfortunately, this process places a huge burden on cities to
    kind of do this on their own, and it would but and helpful if
    the Census shared more of its own data with cities. I have just
    been thoroughly impressed, but also astounded by how much time
    and effort the City has put into this process. I do not know
    that many other cities have that same ability to mount this
    kind of a challenge. That is not the way the system should
    work. It should be open for all cities to kind of examine the
    data, and to challenge it if it is found to be inappropriate.
        Mr. Duggan. Mr. Chairman, think about how easy this would
    be in simple terms. We do not want the Census Bureau to
    disclose the personal data of which houses were occupied. I
    think the protection of privacy is critical for future Census
    count. But think about the Boston-Edison neighborhood, 500
    houses in that neighborhood. The Census Bureau says 399 were
    occupied, the Post Office says 480 were occupied, our door-to-
    door survey says 486, DTE probably says 470.
        What I would like to do is be able to hand the Census
    Bureau the DTE data, house by house, which ones are occupied,
    the Post Office data, house by house, which ones are occupied,
    and our door-to-door survey data, house by house, which one is
    occupied. They can match that up against their own Census data
    and they will see that houses they say are empty, the postman's
    delivering, the lights are on, and the door-to-door surveyors
    found people in there. That is going to be an occupied house.
    It would not be that hard, if we were to give that data to the
    Census Bureau, for them to match it against their actual count,
    and see where the undercounts are.
        What we are asking for is not complicated in today's world,
    but it requires them to have the willingness to do something
    they have never done, which is admit their count is not the
    most accurate, and consider multiple, objective, verifiable
    sources from the outside.
        Chairman Peters. It is really very reasonable, and we will
    make that request. I will be talking to the director, and we
    are going to be talking about what we have learned at this
    hearing.
        We are running out of time, so I just maybe will throw
    out--and anybody can jump in on this--just some final thoughts
    that you would like to leave this Committee with, and know that
    those thoughts will be delivered to the Census Bureau and could
    possibly translate into legislation or other activities that
    are taken. I am going to start down--and you do not have to
    jump in if you do not like, but we will start with Ms. Kuhn,
    because I am in the great city of Detroit, and the Mayor of
    Detroit always will get the last word when I am in the city of
    Detroit.
        Ms. Kuhn. Sure. A couple of last thoughts. Having had the
    opportunity to hear Census Director Robert Santos speak, we are
    encouraged by his approach and lived experience with the
    communities we work with. Also, we will encourage the Bureau to
    start early with ethnic communities and work with trusted
    allies already in community to better understand the people and
    their needs. We also support the Bureau having a sufficient
    budget to carry out its work, as we've talked about here today.
        We also would like to see the Census revisit the race/
    ethnicity categories to be more inclusive of identities that
    are not white, and I am thinking more specifically of the MENA
    designation. Finally, we would like to see more transparency on
    Census tract completion rates for outreach purposes, as we have
    talked about. Those are our final thoughts.
        Ms. Freij. For me, the final thoughts I would like to make
    everybody know is really for this Committee to deal with the
    elephant in the room, the importance of protecting the science
    mission of the Census Bureau and its independence from any
    political interference is something that we need to pay
    attention to, and we need to make sure we build the safeguards
    that will accomplish that. Of course, ensuring there is
    adequate funding at all levels to allow the scientists to come
    up with the tools that are needed to have a successful count
    and to be able to invest in resources within the local
    communities that will ensure an accurate count, especially in
    the communities that are very hard to reach.
        Ms. Garcia. Senator, one of the things that I think would
    be really important to know is that the challenges from the
    cities, some urban cities like Detroit who have been challenged
    in the past--Coleman Young actually sued the Census Bureau, and
    they did come back with a more accurate count. I think they had
    lost like 50,000, and they were able to bring it back. I think
    some precedence had been set, even though it is timely, costly.
    If there is another way to do it, by an appeal process that is
    opened, beginning and end, would be real important when we look
    at moving forward, because we are hampered with these numbers
    for 10 years.
        Even the estimates, it does not have that much of an
    impact--they can say, ``estimates,'' but it doesn't say,
    ``census numbers.'' I think that that would be something at
    least that you, as our Senator, could actually advocate that we
    have an appeal process, because there is so many people that
    are not happy with the count.
        Thank you.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Mr. Anderson.
        Mr. Anderson. Once again, Senator, I want to say thank you
    for this opportunity to participate in this hearing. I would
    add that the Urban League would support, as the Mayor has been
    talking about, and Professor Morenoff has been talking about to
    extend more flexibility in how you review local challenges to
    the 2020 Census count. It seems logical and common sense that
    if the household count that they have is significantly
    different than the one that the utilities have, that you could
    make some adjustment and accountability.
        One other point I want to make is one that I mentioned
    during the testimony that States like Illinois, California,
    Colorado and others have legislation--they have ways of
    allowing prison data, prison counts, to enhance the local
    community count. In Michigan, that would require the State
    legislature to pass legislation that abolishes prison
    gerrymandering, but I think that is something that as a
    community in a State that--particularly those residents in the
    city of Detroit that want to advocate to happening before the
    next Census takes place.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Dr. Morenoff.
        Dr. Morenoff. Yes. Thank you. First I am going to
    underscore the point that the Mayor, in his last comment about
    ways that the Census Bureau could allow local governments like
    Detroit to clearly bring data on each specific address in the
    city that it feels a challenge is necessary to line up against
    the Census data.
        One thing I neglected to emphasize in my prior comment, is
    right now, we are allowed to bring data to challenge the
    existence of the housing structure, but we are not allowed to
    challenge the occupancy of that structure. We also have data
    that speak to the occupancy, and that data should be brought to
    bear, to do that kind of comparison that the Mayor was talking
    about.
        Also, from a researcher perspective, there are two things I
    want to end with. One of them is a point that Senator Peters
    already made, which is like the Census conducts a very thorough
    post-enumeration survey after the Census is done to evaluate
    gaps in the coverage, and it would be super helpful if those
    results could be made available at a more local level, so we
    can see whether national trends apply to Detroit and other
    local entities throughout the country, and how the areas and
    the coverage might be different in those places.
        This is a point that is made by the Task Force on Census
    data quality at the national academies. The Census, in part
    because of all the innovations it is introduced, has a lot more
    really nice operational metrics now that allow researchers and
    evaluators to kind of dig deep into how the Census is
    conducting its operations. Those measures should also be shared
    at a local enough level that we can see things like--how much
    of the non-response follow-up effort was happening in Detroit?
    How many of these cases were being sent out to in-field address
    canvassing instead of just in-office address canvassing, which
    is happening behind a computer screen?
        But, how many people are actually going out into these
    neighborhoods? How many of these cases are being resolved by
    resorting to proxy interviews, trying to find other people in
    the neighborhood to talk to about whether a given housing unit
    was occupied on Census day versus actually knocking on the
    doors and talking to the people directly. These are all metrics
    that the Census Bureau is working on, but they have to be
    released at a fine grain enough level for us to really
    understand what is happening in these local areas.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Mr. Mayor
        Mr. Duggan. Mr. Chairman, I am going to start by thanking
    you for taking the time to hold this important hearing locally
    so that the community can participate.
        I will just close by saying this: We have an administration
    in the White House that is committed to its core to racial
    justice. There is no question about that. We have leadership in
    the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House right now that have proven
    over and over again by their actions that they are committed to
    racial justice. We have leadership at the Census Bureau that
    does not seem to have any urgency to correct the racial
    inequities that are there.
        It is my hope that what comes out of this hearing is that
    the values that are shared by the Biden administration and by
    you and your colleagues in the Senate, and your colleges in the
    House, that we put a spotlight on the Census Bureau, and get
    some urgency, and just give us a chance to present some facts
    and appeal. That is all I want. Thank you.
        Chairman Peters. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I want to
    thank all of our witnesses. Thank you for being here today, and
    for offering your testimony. The information that you have
    provided will certainly put the local perspective on the record
    as we address challenges that the Census Bureau faces today, as
    well as tomorrow, and kind of better understand the challenges
    that communities across our State feel.
        But clearly, here in Detroit, in particular, a significant
    challenge, that must be addressed. You are absolutely right,
    Mayor. This is something that must be addressed. The nice thing
    about what I have heard, the way to address it is actually
    common sense. It is nice when you can put those two together.
    Sometimes that can provide a challenge for us to actually get
    it done, but clearly, it is common sense. It is about making
    sure that the data actually is accurate and can be
    substantiated in an objective way, and not asking for any
    special treatment, but making sure that everybody is indeed
    counted.
        The Census is only conducted every 10 years, but I think we
    can all agree that it impacts people's lives each and every
    year. This has a significant impact, as we talked about in my
    opening comments. I am going to continue, as Chairman of this
    Committee, to provide oversight on the Census Bureau, and
    leadership on the Census issues, and we are going to build on
    what we have learned here today.
        I look forward to continuing to work with each and every
    one of you, as well as the Census Bureau, so we can address
    undercounts, improve future Census. This should not happen in
    the future. Let us fix it and understand where the
    vulnerabilities are so we are not back at this a few years from
    now, dealing with the same issue, and make sure that every
    Michigander gets the support that they deserve.
        The record for this hearing will remain open for 15 days,
    until 5 p.m. on August 9, 2022, for the submission of
    statements and questions for the record.
        This hearing is now adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 11:45 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

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