The Importance Of The Census To Reservations

Making sure that Native Americans are accurately counted in Census 2020 is a top focus of the Montana State Complete Count Committee. More than 29,000 reservation- area households in Montana have yet to receive an invitation to respond to the Census. Reservations and rural areas in the state also lack city-style street addresses, which prevents them from receiving Census materials by mail.

An accurate count of tribal and reservation areas is critical to those populations. Federal funding for Indian schools, education programs, health programs, housing programs, water and sewage projects, roads, and economic development are distributed based on data collected by the Census Bureau.

With the Census Bureau staff not resuming full field operations until June, the Montana Complete Count Committee is working hard with tribal partners to make sure tribal and reservation populations are not missed in the count. You can do your part by educating others on the benefits of being counted and reassure tribal members and reservation residents that their questionnaire responses are confidential.