As the decennial U.S. census approaches, Community Board 9 members and city officials are gearing up to address problems concerning Harlem’s participation—or lack thereof.
With just a 40 percent participation rate, according to local politicians, Harlem has historically been among the lowest-counted communities in North America. With the March 2010 census in sight, CB9 members spent last Thursday’s meeting discussing methods to increase participation through information sessions and forums, which are intended to educate their constituents.
Harlem’s 2000 census participation was particularly low, said Carmen Perez, CB9 member and senior partnership specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau, in an interview. She said that in 2000, there were two forms that were sent out—a short form consisting of 15 questions, sent to the majority of residents, and a longer form consisting of 50 questions, sent to one out of every six residents.
Citizens who received the longer form generally did not fill it out. In response to this problem, the forms for the 2010 census, which will be sent out on March 15th, have been streamlined to 10 questions which all residents will receive.
Alicia Barksdale, New York City Council member Robert Jackson’s community liaison for the Harlem area, noted that there were reasons for lack of participation that did not have to do with the way the census was conducted. “You’ll always have to face those issues of apathy, issues of ignorance, of people who don’t know what this is all about,” she said.
CB9 members noted the fear some residents have of disclosing information to the federal government that they think might be used against them.
“People are skeptical because they think that the federal government is going to find out that they have a couple of relatives living with them—they don’t understand that unless they have your social security number, nobody can find out who you are,” said CB9 member Barbara Marshall in an interview, who has been particularly active in working to mend Harlem’s census problems. Marshall recently spoke at her church, and at the precinct council, where she gave out census-related information and materials to attendees. She is also working to organize an informational forum for local residents at the City College of New York.
Others cited issues specifically concerning the demographic makeup of the area.
“There are a lot of illegal immigrants in CB9, and an increasingly large number of whom are Mexican, and many others who don’t speak English,” CB9 member Walter South said in an interview. “As a consequence, most of these people are very fearful about giving information, and as a result there’s a very low return.”
In response to these issues, community board members have targeted specific groups to educate about the importance of census participation.
“We have an individual who will be a liaison working with churches, bodegas, and small businesses,” CB9 chair Pat Jones said in an interview. “We want to help them understand what the census is, the importance of getting citizens to respond, and emphasizing that this is a positive, not a negative. It’s not about personal information.”
And as CB9 members work to address these problems, local politicians are working alongside them. Barksdale said at the meeting that Jackson’s office sent an email to Washington expressing his disappointment with the lack of publicity about the census in the area.
“If I walk down the street, I should see things everywhere, in Spanish and English,” Jones said.
COMMENTS
Comments will be moderated in accordance with our comment policy