OPINION | Under the direction of Street Roots staffer Mallory Smith, our vendors are helping unhoused people take the Census
Pops cleaned off a laptop, readying it for the next Census taker. Mask on and wearing a turquoise t-shirt announcing, “We Count Street Roots,” he was running one of three stations at our office.
Street Roots is operating as a Census Assistance Center for unhoused people every Monday from 9 to 11 a.m. We call these mornings “Census Mondays” — casting this civic activity as celebratory.
In fact, this past Monday, there was a small party — involving masks and physical distancing, of course — in which unhoused people stopped by for donuts and a raffle.
Pops has a gentle warmth and steady voice, and he prepares people for some trying questions. While it’s the first time people can take the Census while they are homeless, listing the environment in which they live (“are you on the sidewalk, are you under a bridge, are you in the woods camping” asks Pops) — they can only count themselves as individuals, unlike other households.
And Census takers have only binary genders to select from: male or female. This is how Pops handles that: “Answer it in the way in your heart you feel you need to. You have to answer it in a way that’s right for you.”
He goes on to talk about the importance of simply getting counted so the region gets money for services such as “food banks, job training, shelters, housing programs.”
The United States government conducts the population Census every 10 years, using the count to determine the number of representatives in Congress each state. Oregon could possibly get a new, sixth seat in the U.S. House of Representatives based on the estimated population, but that population needs to be counted in the Census. Street Roots received a United Way grant to participate in a #WeCountOregon campaign to make sure hard-to-count people are counted, an especially daunting task amid a global pandemic.
The #WeCountOregon campaign focuses on populations consistently undercounted in past U.S. Censuses — people of color, children under 5, renters, immigrants, people with limited English proficiency, multiple-family households, disabled people, LGBTQ+ individuals, and Native tribal and urban communities.
There's so much at stake. The Census also determines how much federal funding Oregon gets. According to the #WeCountOregon campaign, each person who gets counted adds $3,200 to the federal funding that comes into Oregon.
Street Roots is the only Census Assistance Center in the Portland metro region solely focused on counting unhoused people. Street Roots staffer Mallory Smith runs the Street Roots Census Access Center with a team of vendors she has trained. They are all paid for their work as members of the Coronavirus Prevention and Action Team, which we’ve created as a way for vendors to earn an income while publication of our newspaper is suspended. Mallory is quick to shift credit for how smoothly the access center is running to the vendors. I agree their contributions have been substantial. There are usually a few dogs around, too, including Mallory’s puppy, Roxie.
A Warm Springs tribal member, Mallory is also familiar with another population perpetually undercounted in the Census: Native tribal communities. She knows how much this count matters for federal funds when resources are scarce because, with an aging water infrastructure, Warm Springs is coping with a water crisis. Right now, in her free time, she and her cousins organize donations of bottled water and other supplies for Warm Springs that come in from around the country.
At Street Roots, Mallory and her team create a calm environment for every Census Monday — they have to. Submitting federal forms can spark anxiety in people so many systems have failed. She designed the bright t-shirts given to every Census taker reading “We Count Street Roots” and featuring images of a raised fist, a heart, and a map of the state. She’s helped create a sense of a community as more people on the streets don those t-shirts and talk about the importance of federal money.
At the heart of so much our work at Street Roots is confronting an uneven distribution of resources that further marginalizes communities. Historical injustices dispossess communities, many of them undercounted in the Census. That’s why we are determined that everyone gets counted. Make sure you do.
Director's Desk is written by Kaia Sand, the executive director of Street Roots. You can reach her at kaia@streetroots.org. Follow her on Twitter @mkaiasand.
Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. It is an award-winning, weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
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