On Jan. 14th, NLC hosted its first webinar of the 2021 Webinar series titled, “2020 Census City Undercounts: Risks, Consequences, and Solutions.” In this webinar, we examined the stark example of college towns after the exodus of students following COVID-related lockdown orders immediately, we learned about the sources and risks of an undercount in cities, obstacles to getting an accurate final count through data, and what cities may still be able to do ensure an accurate final count. Thank you to our speakers, Mayor Steve Patterson, City of Athens, Ohio; Susan Strate, Senior Program Manager, UMass Donahue Institute, Massachusetts liaison to the Federal State Cooperative for Population Estimates (FSCPE); and, Denice Ross, Senior Fellow, National Conference on Citizenship and Chair, Census Quality Reinforcement Taskforce.
