Ojai Valley News Blog

Estimate of each person’s value set at $1,000 for federal, state grants

By Sondra Murphy
With the feeble federal and state economy persisting, the 2010 Census is expected to be very important to local communities.

Ojai Complete Count committee members met June 13 to discuss strategies to count every citizen next year. Census efforts will run from April 1 to June 30. The 2010 Census will be a 10-question short form people will receive in the mail in early spring. Census takers will circulate among communities in order to complete information from addresses they have not received replies from. All data given is confidential for 72 years.

Confidentiality is something the U.S. Census Bureau wants to emphasize. Data is important to gather so that government representation and funding may be properly allocated.

In 2000, the bureau estimates that the Ojai count was short by at least 5 percent. Dave Rodriguez said that seniors and new immigrant populations are historically challenging to tally for a variety of reasons and encouraged the Ojai Complete Count committee to think of places and events that would allow both populations to get facts about the importance of the census.

“We’ve estimated that it’s about $1,000 per person, per year,” said Rodriguez of the collected census data. The figures influence federal state and grant funds awarded to communities, as well as schools. “So stimulus packages, as they continue, are based on the new census figures.”

Rodriguez said projections are that the current economic trend will continue for two to three years, so accurate census numbers can be a great help to small communities like the Ojai Valley. The committee hopes to attract members from the unincorporated areas of the valley, churches and people who work with the homeless, as well.

“When do they actually have data available to use?” asked Steve McClary, assistant to the Ojai city manager.

“I believe in late 2010,” said Rodriguez. The Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the president by Dec. 31, 2010.

The U.S. Constitution mandates a head count every 10 years of everyone residing in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas. The first census was conducted in 1790 and has been carried out every decade since. Its original purpose was to determine congressional districts.

Questions on the census mailer include type of dwelling, contact phone number, number of residents, names, ages, genders, birth dates, relationship and ethnicity. 

“We don’t have any specific expectations,” McClary later said of 2010 Census figures. “Generally the Census count comes in lower than the state Department of Finance estimates. We know that Ojai is the slowest-growing city in the county and expect that trend to continue in 2010.”

In the 2000 census count, Ojai was listed as having a population of 7,692. Of that, 47 percent were male and 53 percent female. Among those numbers, 1,405 are listed as being over 65, 5,901 are listed as being between 18 and 64, and 386 were found to be under 5 years of age.

Whites were counted at 6,919, African American or black were counted at 47, American Indian or Alaskan Natives were tallied at 39, and Asian, 124. Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders made up 13 of the total number, other races, 492, and two or more races, 228. Hispanic or Latinos of any race were counted at 1,245.

Total housing units in Ojai were said to be 3,229. Single-family owner-occupied homes were calculated to be 1,648 with a median home value of $272,100.

The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size is listed at 3.06. The median age 10 years ago was calculated to be 42.

Median household income in 1999 was $44,593 and the median family income was $52,917. Families living below the poverty level were listed at 155, while individuals living below the poverty level came in at 790.

If recent trends in Ojai Unified School District are any indication, an increase in group quarters populations and Hispanic or Latino numbers may be recorded in 2010. Because OUSD includes schools in the unincorporated areas of the county, the impacts on the city figures are uncertain.

The Ojai Complete Count committee meets again Aug. 3. For more information about assisting with the Ojai Valley 2010 Census efforts, contact McClary at 646-5581, Ext. 101.