Newburgh Lawmakers Posit Ideas to Increase 2020 Census Participation

The three-pronged approach will include: establishing a questionnaire assistance center (QAC) to educate about the census and its importance, holding a job fair to employ more locals to work on the census, and a meeting involving the Census Bureau, city officials, and community organizations such as the immigrant advocacy group Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson.

A representative in the Census Bureau’s media relations office told Spectrum News on Thursday that if a community’s initial response to the questionnaire is low, the bureau sends “enumerators” into the community to find and count people who did not fill it out, in order to get a more accurate population figure for that community.

Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson volunteer organizer Rene Mejia said census enumerators will face challenges in Newburgh if a low initial response to the questionnaire requires them to physically follow up in the city.