SCRANTON — U.S. Census takers already expect a high number of city residents to ignore the count this year.
Following a poor showing in 2010, the Census Bureau pegged six census tracts in the city as “hard to survey,” including neighborhoods in South Scranton, West Side, the Hill Section and lower Green Ridge, Pedro L. Anes, a bureau partnership specialist, said.
He made his case Sunday to a group of about 200 during the Greater Scranton Martin Luther King Commission’s annual celebration dinner.
An inaccurate census, a head count mandated by the Constitution that happens once every 10 years, has grave implications for the next decade.
For one, legislative districts are drawn based on results.
Beyond that, the federal government distributes nearly $700 billion
in funding for basic programs and services including law enforcement, education and infrastructure, and it uses census data to decide how much goes where.
Anes said the federal government predicts nonresponse rates between 24% and 30% percent in those Scranton neighborhoods.
“That is critical, my friends,” he said.
Hard-to-count groups include infants and children under 5 years old, the homeless and isolated seniors. The list also includes those in extreme poverty and people who stay with friends or family, but have no place of their own.
Following the 2010 census, the federal government doesn’t consider the Jackson Terrace
neighborhood in West Scranton to be low-income, said Sister Ann Walsh, I.H.M.
, former chief executive officer at Friends of the Poor, a social services agency.
She doesn’t know the particulars on why it failed to meet the criteria, but she knows one thing — it should have.
“It’s public housing. There’s no way it isn’t low-income,” said Walsh, who still works full time for the agency. “I think all of the social service agencies are committed to trying to get it right. … We have to do whatever we can to get it right this time.”
New this year, the bureau is rolling out mobile question/answer centers in underrepresented communities, Anes said. These are places where people can answer survey questions without fear of census takers knocking on their doors.
Nonprofit agencies are pitching in to help count homeless people, Anes said.
Black people in Lackawanna County were historically underrepresented, said Glynis Johns
, founder of Black Scranton Project
, an organization that promotes black heritage and culture in the region.
Starting in 2017, she’s worked with the regional census office in Philadelphia
, and is urging city government leaders to start a count committee.
“Our city is going through so much turmoil, and the census is a big factor in getting federal funds,” she said “I just want to see what I can do to actually make some real, visible, substantial change in my community.”
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The local census at a glance
The bureau must hire about 300 temporary census takers in Lackawanna County area; pay starts at $16.50 per hour, plus 58 cents per mile.
Census takers who currently receive public assistance may receive waivers so they can keep their benefits.
Call 855-562-2020 for information or to apply.
By law, the U.S. Census Bureau cannot share residents’ survey answers or personal information with any other government agency.
Households can respond to the census online, by phone or by mail before April 1, National Census Day, and after receiving a form in the mail.
An enumerator will visit households that do not respond by the third attempt.