Community groups say their efforts to inform minority populations about the census are coming up short.
When Commonpoint Queens started its census outreach efforts earlier this year, the social services group would sometimes get 300 people to fill out the government survey in a single day.
But Mohama said it's hard to get people who are struggling with social distancing measures and making ends meet to care about the census. And Census Bureau data show that the response rate for households in Queens, New York, one of the most diverse counties in the nation, is below the city, state and national levels, at about 44 percent versus 45 percent for New York City, 50 percent for the state and 56 percent for the country as a whole.
States like New York, California and Texas have the greatest risk of undercounts because of their large populations of hard-to-count communities, researchers at the Urban Institute found. Those communities, which include minority populations, tend to have lower average incomes and larger numbers of renters, new and undocumented immigrants and children under age 5. In 2010, the census undercounted African American and Hispanic populations by 2.1 percent and 1.
Still, advocacy groups typically try to reach community members before the census takers come knocking so residents understand why their participation is vital to their neighborhoods and to tamp down any confusion and fear of government officials. That seems almost impossible now with just weeks to go before federal field operations phase back in, the groups say.
For some African Americans, for whom skepticism of government runs deep, it may be hard to accept that census officials are trying to help, said Marcella Tillett of the Brooklyn Community Foundation.
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