Congressional district offices, local government staff, tribal representatives, nonprofits, community leaders, education/health representatives and foundation staff are all encouraged to attend the session, “Census 2020: A Complete Strategy,” on Nov. 14 from 9 to 11 a.m.

The session, which will be held at the Mid Region Council of Governments at 809 Copper Ave. NW in Albuquerque, is sponsored through the coordination between the UNM Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) and the U.S. Census Bureau’s State Data Center program.

The U.S. Constitution requires that each decade a census of America's population is taken. Each year, the federal government distributes hundreds of billions of dollars to states and communities based on U.S. Census Bureau data.

For New Mexico, according to a recent study by the George Washington University Institute of Public Policy, $6,197,394,617 ($2,972 per capita) in federal dollars were distributed in FY2015 based on decennial numbers.

With so much riding on the Census, how does a community motivate people to respond? Attend this session to learn about outreach strategies planned for the 2020 Census.

One of the major strategies presented will be the Complete Count Committee (CCC) for tribal, city, county governments. Each participant will receive CCC materials as well as a demonstration on the Response Area Outreach Mapper (ROAM).

ROAM is an interactive web mapping application that allows NM users to visualize areas by predicted mail non-response rates to determine the location of harder to count areas.

This interactive meeting is planned with opportunities for questions and dialogue.