DELHI PRESS
Your Community Press newspaper serving Delhi Township and other West Cincinnati neighborhoods
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2020 ❚ BECAUSE COMMUNITY MATTERS ❚ PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK
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Census forms land in mailboxes as undercount fears loom The Enquirer and the Associated Press
Amen Posey, volunteer, helps pack meals for Meals on Wheels of Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky in Lower Price Hill. Jennifer Steele, executive director, said that due to the new coronavirus threat, the agency is delivering 14 days worth of nonperishable food to their elderly clients. PHOTOS BY ALBERT CESARE/THE ENQUIRER
WHEELS KEEP TURNING Changes keep meals coming to seniors in Cincinnati region despite coronavirus
Terry DeMio Cincinnati Enquirer USA TODAY NETWORK
Every day, well over 7,000 seniors in the Cincinnati region, including Northern Kentucky, receive visitors to their homes with life-sustaining food even in the best of times. In 2019, Council on Aging of Southwest Ohio partners alone provided 1.35 million home-delivered meals to more than 7,000 clients in Hamilton, Butler, Clermont, Warren and Clinton counties, records show. With seniors being vulnerable to COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, the numbers of those who need food are driving up. “We have been getting big increases in calls from seniors in the community who wouldn’t normally need our help,” said the area council on aging agency’s CEO Suzanne Burke. “But at this time, they’re fi nding themselves with not enough food, not enough cleaning supplies… (or) toilet paper.” Do not despair, providers say. The meals will come. Arrangements are underway in both Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky for food and oth-
A box full of non perishable items that Meals on Wheels is delivering to elderly.
er necessities. Meals on Wheels of Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky is among agencies stepping up its deliveries to its roughly 2,000 senior clients in the See MEALS, Page 2A
Across the Cincinnati region and the nation, the Census Bureau has reached out to every U.S. household as it begins the 2020 Census. From March 12 through March 20, the agency sent letters with a form, asking people to answer the census online, by mail or by phone. Obstacles typically arise with the census, but issues with getting a good count in the Cincinnati region are expected to be focused in 11 communities. If the counting problems weren’t bad enough, the Census is having trouble recruiting people to knock on doors of people who don’t respond to the Census in all local areas except Warren County. A strong economy has made hiring diffi cult, even as the door-todoor survey in May, June and July could be complicated by the new coronavirus. Roughly half of Cincinnati is considered hard to count by the Census Bureau because it has more than 20,000 vacant housing units, sparse internet access and high poverty – factors that combine to make the city a tough community to tally. Obtaining an accurate count is critical because the census determines the allocation of $1.5 trillion in federal spending for states, counties and municipalities. The Census also decides which states gain or lose congressional seats, with Ohio on the cusp of losing another congressional seat. Cincinnati offi cials estimate the city will get $18,000 over 10 years for each resident who is counted. The city and Hamilton County have joined with other municipalities and business leaders to ensure as complete a count as possible locally. They even have a hashtag for the eff ort: #GreaterCincyCounts. “There is nothing more important, no higher priority, than reaching the hard to count,” Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham told lawmakers last summer. Nationwide, about a quarter of the population lives in hard-to-count neighborhoods, including a majority of people in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Memphis, Tennessee, and Fresno, California. Cincinnati isn’t alone locally in being tough to count fully, an Enquirer analysis of government data compiled by the Associated Press shows. Ten other local areas, identifi ed by the Census as problem spots because they have large groups of citizens who are traditionally under-counted, are: ❚ Newport, where 62% of the city is hard to count because of its high levels See CENSUS, Page 2A
John Simon, prepares daily deliveries of food to clients .
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A form is being sent to all American households asking residents to fi ll out the once-a-decade census online, by mail or by phone. MICKEY WELSH/ADVERTISER
Vol. 93 No. 14 © 2020 The Community Recorder ALL RIGHTS RESERVED $1.00
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