Changes to the way the 2020 Census will be conducted, along with ongoing U.S. Postal Service challenges, could impact how accurately Coachella Valley residents are counted. Concerns are especially high on residents’ behalf—many of them Latino, those with limited English proficiency, or undocumented immigrants—who reside on the valley’s east side.

Many in the area do not have fixed mailing addresses, those who live in mobile homes experience sporadic mail delivery, and others don’t have mailboxes. So they choose post office boxes to receive mail. However, the census won’t send the decennial survey to post office boxes, leaving out a whole segment of the population, according to the Desert Sun. A question about citizenship, which is currently being challenged and considered in the U.S. Supreme Court, could also have a chilling effect.

This is the first survey that will be conducted using online outreach, but according to reports, nearly 50 percent of those in the east valley, including Thermal, Mecca and North Shore had slow or no internet service.

Census representatives say there are plans to send out door-to-door census takers, but advocates like Luz Gallegos, TODEC Legal Center’s community programs director, are concerned that they won’t be able to reach everyone

“If you don’t get an invitation to go to a party, how are you going to know there’s a party?” she said. “It is a concern because there is so much at stake.”

To learn more, go here: https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2019/06/10/us-census-bureau-doesnt-send-survey-invitation-po-box-coachella-valley-thermal-mecca-hispanic/1166162001/