Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a quote from Rep. Paul Mark about using Facebook data to individually target people to another person.
NORTHAMPTON — Next year will see an event that will determine the political destiny of western Massachusetts, New England and the United States of America. But this event is no election, it’s the U.S. census.
“This is going to be really a critical moment for cities and towns like Northampton,” said Mayor David Narkewicz.
He noted that much of the funding the city receives is based on population.
Narkewicz was one of a number of people who gathered Monday at the Pioneer Valley Workers Center space at 20 Hampton Ave. to speak about the importance of the census and of people participating. The event was organized by Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, and Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru.
People will begin to be sent information to participate in the census in March of next year. Participants can fill the census out in paper form, as well as over the phone. For the first time ever, there will also be an option to fill the census out online. There will not be a citizenship question on the census.
Following the event, about five groups of people spread out to canvass nearby residences, mostly in Ward 3, with information about the census. One of those teams consisted of Mark and Sabadosa. While people weren’t home at many of the places they went to, some residents still got to hear the message directly on their doorstep.
“We’re just making sure people know that it’s happening,” Sabadosa said.
At one home, a branch fell in the yard as Sabadosa was making the pitch.
“The census is safer than sitting in your yard,” said the lawmaker, without missing a beat.
The legislators also ran into Janai Henderson, who recently moved to Northampton from Washington, D.C.
Mark is the chairman of the House Committee on Redistricting. At the Workers Center event, he noted that the census numbers determine how the lines for state legislative seats, congressional seats and Governor’s Council seats are drawn.
“These numbers affect our very voice in Boston and in Washington,” he said.
Mark said that while Massachusetts’ population as a whole grew more than 5 percent from 2010 and 2018, this growth rate has not been matched in western Massachusetts. Hampshire County saw a 2.1 percent growth rate, with a growth of 0.6 percent in Northampton, the result of which will likely be districts getting geographically bigger in the western part of the state.
“We don’t want those districts to be any bigger than they need to be,” said Mark.
Speaking after the event, Mark said the secretary of state told him that Massachusetts not having an accurate count at the last census was the reason why it lost a congressional seat.
Mark said the state appeared to be in no danger of losing a seat as a result of the upcoming census.
Georgia Lowe, a supervisory partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau, said that the success of the census rests on local employees and volunteers. She also said that a successful census counts everyone only once and in the right place.
Lowe said that the census would be hiring field workers at $18 an hour.
“A great part-time job,” she said.
She also said that census ambassadors will be needed in every community, spreading the word that the census is safe, easy and important.
Lowe also said that more than $675 billion a year is distributed from the federal government based on census data.
On safety, Lowe said that the census cannot share its information with any state, federal or local authority, including law enforcement, and that all data collected is confidential. Additionally, Lowe said that violating that confidentiality is a federal crime for a census worker.
One person at the event at the Workers Center asked about how the data will be protected when she asserted that the Trump administration didn’t respect the rule of law. Lowe said that the census is nonpartisan and that the confidentiality of the data had been upheld by the Supreme Court.
“I rest my case,” said the woman.
However, Patrick Beaudry, manager of public affairs for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, said that the census doesn’t collect much data that can be used to individually target a person.
“Facebook’s probably a better way,” said Mark.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.