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Language obstacles in the 2020 count
Queens Community Boards grill the New York Census Bureau over language access
shows an undercount of
a mass amount? Because
I’m just telling you
that’s going to happen,”
said Katz.
“This is really it. You get
one count every 10 years,”
Behler responded.
In addition to setting the
time frame of the census
rollout, Behler’s presentation
emphasized the importance of
the data, which will determine
the number of Congressional
seats Queens gets in addition
to its portion of the $675 billion
GRIEF AT ELMHURST FIRE
dollars in federal funding
that is allocated across the
entire country.
Anticipating the suspicion
that the legal battle over
including the citizenship
question on the survey
has engendered in the
A grief-stricken woman at the scene of a deadly fire in East Elmhurst on July 10. Three people
died in the blaze, which was intentionally set, according to police. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
BY MAX PARROTT
Queens Borough President
Melinda Katz and Community
Board representatives across
the borough grilled the New
York Regional Census director
on July 15 about the obstacles
that the “World’s Borough”
faces to receiving a fair count
in 2020.
During the meeting at
Borough Hall, Jeff Behler,
the director of the New York
branch of the Federal Census
Bureau, presented a plan
detailed the bureau’s plans to
open four offices in Queens,
hire around 10,000 of workers
and roll out programs that are
designed to collaborate with
local groups.
In a question and
comment period after the
presentation, the group of
board representatives and
Katz treated it as a forgone
conclusion that the borough
will be undercounted in
the survey. They identified
two major obstacles toward
ensuring a fair count:
foreign language access
and getting funding to
community-based groups.
“I know this is probably
undocumented population,
Behler emphasized the
security measures that
protect each individual’s
data.
“Every piece of data that is
being provided to the census
bureau can’t be shared with
anyone else. Period. We can’t
share it with local, state law
enforcement or Homeland
Security,” he said.
As a means of building
trust, Behler highlighted a
service the Census Bureau
offers called the partner
program where they send out
representatives to any local
organization that wants to
hold an educational forum –
be it at a place of worship or
a restaurant.
It is the Mayor’s Office, not
the Census Bureau, however,
that takes on the key role of
hiring community groups to
actually do the work of door
knocking to get residents to
fill out the survey. This year
the state budget includes
$20 million for this outreach
– only half the amount
advocates requested.
Read more at QNS.com.
Reach reporter Max
a ‘no,’ but is there any safety
net? What if the numbers
come back that are clearly
wrong? What if Queens
Vol. 7 No. 29 48 total pages
Parrott by email at mparrott@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260-2507.
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