East Flatbush Complete Count Committee begins 2020 census promo

BROOKLYN – Ten years ago, only half the residents of East Flatbush mailed back a U.S. Census form. Despite follow-up efforts, the community and others like it were undercounted, which likely cost the city millions of dollars of federal aid.

With the 2020 census count just a few months away, officials in East Flatbush and across the city are determined that won’t happen again. Complete Count Committees are forming to make sure every New York resident is counted.

Their challenge was heightened when the Trump Administration unsuccessfully attempted to insert a citizenship question into the census. Opponents said the move was designed to scare undocumented immigrants into not participating, ensuring a 2020 undercount in areas like East Flatbush, where 50 percent of residents are foreign born.

“Our goal is to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place,” said Afia Frimpong at Flatbush’s first Complete Count Committee meeting, hosted by Senator Kevin Parker at the local Brooklyn Public Library branch on Nov. 12.

The federal government distributes an estimated $650 billion in aid to local and state governments for functions as varied as schools, senior centers, housing, roads and tunnels, etc. That aid is distributed based on census counts.

Also at stake is the number of representatives that New York City will have in Congress and in the state Legislature, since census counts are used to allocate representation across the state and nation. After the 2010 census, New York State lost two representatives in Congress.

In 2010, the citywide rate for residents returning the Census form was 62%, according to the City Department of Planning. That compares to a 76% national rate reporteds by the Census Bureau. The Bureau has projected that in 2020, the city’s response rate will dip to 58%.

Frimpong, a partnership specialist of the New York Regional Census Center, is busily organizing volunteer community-based committees all around the city. While some committees involve government officials or government-appointed community members, Frimpong provides support for the local grassroots groups that volunteer to help get out the word.

“It is for anyone with a common interest in educating citizens about the census,” said Frimpong.

Parker is leading the charge in East Flatbush. Those who attended his Nov. 12 session included groups ranging from the YMCA, tenants rights groups, and teachers.

While the Trump administration has dropped its demand for a citizenship question, East Flatbush’s Complete Count Committees don’t feel that everyone has gotten that message.

“We’re not counting citizens, we’re counting people,” said Parker. He said Title 13 of the US Code ensures that the federal government cannot use the census to track down undocumented residents.

A week later, Parker hosted a job fair to recruit Census “enumerators,” who will go door to door to help residents complete Census forms.

Census forms are scheduled to be mailed out to every U.S. household starting in March. In April, hard-to-count communities like East Flatbush, Census workers will follow up with door-to-door visits to any addresses from which no form was received.

From now until the end of the year, committees are seeking to recruit diverse participants, particularly volunteers who speak different languages, such as Haitian Creole.

“We’re looking for people who understand the neighborhood,” said Parker.

They’ll swing into action starting in January 2020, hosting census rallies and forums at public libraries, places of worship, or any public, large-group gathering site. They’ll also be posting promotional images in “highly visible public locations,” and social media outlets.

The message: Let’s not shortchange ourselves and our children by not participating in the census.

“Which one of us would take a generation of academic funding away from a child?” said Kathleen Daniel, NYC Census 2020 field director, at the organizational meeting in East Flatbush.

“I don’t want to see this city without our fair share of it. That’s our money.”

Just this week, Governor Cuomo released $60 million for census work across New York State. Freeman Klopott, spokesman for the state Division of the Budget, said the money will fund “trusted” non-profit organizations that work to reach hard-to-count communities, particularly those with high populations of immigrants, children under 5 years old, and seniors.

Gloria Woods, an 84-year-old retiree who attended the Nov. 12 meeting, said the Complete Count Committees not only promote the census but also can foster a sense of community.

Woods noted that she has many neighbors she’s never had a reason to talk to, and she may be their only access to census awareness.

“Now I’m going to have to talk to them,” she said. “If we don’t do it, then who will?”