[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

       
       
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       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.
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    \1\ The prepared statement of Senator Peters appears in the 
Appendix on page 33.
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    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\
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    \2\ The prepared statement of Congresswoman Lawrence appears in the 
Appendix on page 35.
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    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.
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    \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Duggan appears in the Appendix on 
page 36.
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    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.
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    \1\ The prepared statement of Dr. Morenoff appears in the Appendix 
on page 125.
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    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.
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    \1\ The prepared statement of Mr. Anderson appears in the Appendix 
on page 151.
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    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.
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    \1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Garcia appears in the Appendix on 
page 157.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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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