Despite Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s announcement on Wednesday that only 6 percent of city households had returned their 2010 Census forms so far, those working to increase the response rate in Harlem say it’s much too early to worry.
The census is taken every 10 years nationwide, and population counts are used to decide the allocation of congressional seats, electoral votes, and government funding. Harlem—with a 40 percent participation rate in 2000—has typically been among the lowest-counted neighborhoods in North America, and several local grassroots organizations have been working this year to put an end to that trend.
But according to data from the U.S. Census website, as of Thursday evening, the response rate in different regions of West Harlem ranges from 9 to 19 percent, with New York County on the whole at 19 percent. Nationally, the average is a 29 percent response rate.
Raul Vicente, a spokesperson for the Census Bureau’s New York region, said that this isn’t unexpected.
“We’re not concerned. The forms say April 1, the reminder forms say April 1. ... Most people wait until that date to mail their forms. ... We anticipate a surge after the 1st,” he said.
Many people don’t realize they can send in the forms earlier if they choose, Vicente added.
“Those numbers are not really relevant right now,” he said.
Diane Wilson, a member of Harlem’s Community Board 9 who has been active in Census outreach through her church, St. Catherine of Genoa on 153rd Street, said that people will respond, but it won’t be immediate.
Wilson said one issue with her senior-citizen and low-income neighbors is that they are also currently worried about recertifying for food stamps and Medicaid, as well as organizing their income taxes.
“And now they have to fill out another big form. They’ll do it, but it seems like everything is due April 15. The agencies have everything due around tax time,” she said. “It is an imposing-looking document.”
She emphasized the need for community groups to continue outreach over the next few weeks. “It’s important to keep the efforts of publicity going so they don’t just leave it on the table. ... The effort at my church is every week,” she said, adding that they flier and discuss it during announcements. “Going through the neighborhood, I see the centers. I’m getting reminders in the mail.”
Though the Upper West Side has historically had a high Census response rate, the latest data shows an 11 to 23 percent range from 96th to 125th streets.
Dominican Sunday, a community service organization that operates through the Church of the Ascension at 175 107th Street, reaches out to the area’s Hispanic population. Their office operates as an official questionnaire assistance center, where a Census employee works to help people fill out forms in Spanish or English, according to executive director Jacqueline De Leon.
“I think people, especially the people who Dominican Sunday has helped with several seminars, a lot of the people have returned the forms,” De Leon said.
Bloomberg emphasized the importance of continuing to reach out to immigrants and the economically disadvantaged, who form the city’s “hard-to-count” population.
“No one has anything to fear from filling out the Census form, but we all have a lot to lose if city residents do not send the form back,” Bloomberg said in a press release Wednesday.
After mid-April, the Census will begin sending workers to addresses that have not returned their form, providing another opportunity for people to be counted.
“The most important thing to recognize is that if a family doesn’t mail back forms ... they can still participate. If they lose the form, the dog eats the form, it doesn’t matter—they still have opportunity to follow up with non-response Census takers who will knock on their door,” Vicente said.
Wilson still thinks the extensive outreach efforts from the Census office and city and community groups will pay off. “I think we’ll have a better response than last go-round, but it’s not going to be immediate,” she said.
After all, Wilson added, she hasn’t even filled her form out yet. “I do plan to do it over the weekend,” she said.
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