More than two dozen volunteers took to the streets of Oktibbeha County Saturday to encourage residents to complete and return their U.S. Census forms.
The group, made up of the city”s We Count Committee and other volunteers, went door to door in several Starkville apartment complexes, from The Polos and College Station to Academy Village and Crossgates. Those apartment complexes are heavily populated with Mississippi State University students — a group Mayor Parker Wiseman and the We Count Committee is targeting.
An estimated 56 percent of Oktibbeha County residents have completed and returned their U.S. Census forms, so the We Count Committee targeted areas where returns have been slim. Volunteers also distributed fliers at Lowe”s and Walmart that informed citizens they can pick up Census forms at the MSU Student Union, the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, the MSU Extension Service office on Felix Long Drive and at the Sturgis Public Library.
As newly elected Mississippi State Student Association President Thomas Sellers and Drew Fowler walked through the Polos Saturday, they knocked on doors and asked residents if they had received their Census forms. Many said they hadn”t received their form in the mail, but some said they had and already sent it back to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Mayor Wiseman said he has heard parts of the city still had not received Census forms in the mail. Other residents have returned their Census forms, but received a second copy in the mail.
Sellers and Fowler said seeing fellow students pushing for participation in the Census is important for the MSU population in town. Other student volunteers included Hannah Rachel Cardin, a sophomore from Clinton; Daniel Fisher, a sophomore from West Point; Tyler Butts, a sophomore from Senatobia; and Nathan Upchurch, a junior from Kosciusko.
“We wanted to show the city that we”re here to help because we know how important the Census is,” Sellers said. “And we felt it was important for us to come to these areas where a lot of students live because they might relate more to us than they would to a Census worker who is a little older.”
Oktibbeha County Chancery Clerk Monica Banks, who is coordinating the county”s Census effort, led a group of volunteers to Maben, where returns are “very low,” she said. Other volunteers went to the Clayton Village area east of Starkville.
For Census assistance, call 1-866-872-6868.
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