By Ken Sain | Arizonan
Leah Powell, Chandler’s neighborhood resources director, freely admits she was worried going into the 2020 Census. That’s because millions of dollars were hanging in the balance.
“We’re pleased with the result,” Powell said. “We worked very hard in a difficult time to get the word out.”
Powell was put in charge of the city’s efforts to convince people to fill out the Census form so they would be counted. The federal, state and county government decide on which programs to fund based, in part, on population.
If you have more people, you usually get more money. That’s why despite a global pandemic, the city pushed to ensure everyone living within its borders returned a Census form.
“We tried to think outside the box,” Powell said. “We had amazing teamwork, and our actual numbers came in higher than all the projections.”
