Narrative: c. 4. B.

According to 2010 census data, the total population in the state was estimated to be 6,724,540. It is also estimated that 5,651,869 (84%) of WA State’s population live in metropolitan urban areas which consists of less than four percent of the total geographic area. The remaining 16% of the population resides in rural areas. The average population density in urban areas in the state is 2,380 persons per square mile while the population density in rural areas is under 17 persons per square mile.

The Program Year 2022 end of year report indicated SCSEP providers were overall serving rural areas at 15.4% of participation. This number excludes the participants in NAPCA’s Set-Aside grant which is focused on urban areas. While this indicates SCSEP as a whole in Washington State was slightly underserving rural areas below the Census levels, Goodwill’s program served 23% of their participants in rural areas. The other SCSEP programs served rural areas at 13% for the State program and 4% for AARP National grant. The lower percentages of the State and AARP National program are being directly addressed by the rural outreach and recruitment plan identified above.