Census Day in Somerville helps people count

On April 7, 2010, in Latest News, by The News Staff

CORES volunteer Patricia Cruz helps El Salvadorian refugee Zuma Hernandez fill out her census form.

Ryan Brum of the Somerville High Jazz Band Plays some tunes. ~Photos by Andrew Firestone

Focus on legal immigrants and students

Andrew Firestone

How do we count Somerville?

With legal immigrants and college students in the community, it's easy to undercount a city like Somerville, said organizers of last week's 2010 Census Day event at Foss Park.

Organized by Daniel Hauck, the City of Somerville Center Coordinator, the event was "to educate and applaud our community members for being counted in the 2010 Census," he said.

A key demographic of the event were people who had not yet turned in or lost their census forms, including Norm Dempsey of Allston. Visiting his girlfriend Dawn Ryder in Somerville, he learned his census form had been mistakenly thrown out. "I told her I was going to be arrested and fined." On the way to City Hall in Boston, Dempsey spotted the event and filled out his census form there. "Saved me a trip to city hall," he said.

Hauck was quick to point out the many organizations and the necessity of having the census. "We worked with local non-profits and schools to bring food, music and a strong sense of community involvement. For each one percent we increase the return rate we save $85 million. If everyone sent their census form, back we would save $1.5 billion."

One group that fit into this equation was the large population of legal immigrants in Somerville, who were encouraged to come out and fill out the census. C.O.R.E.S. a center for Salvadoran refugees in Somerville, was one of many nonprofits at the event urging their respective communities to fill out the forms.

"We live here, we work her and we have our children in these schools," said Patricia Reyes, who helped members of her community to fill out the census form. Added Rosa Maria Aguilar, "We are here to help the city, to make them count, so we can help get the city the money that we need."

A population at risk for truancy in their census forms are off-campus Tufts students, who were represented at the event by the Tufts Census Committee head by Tomas Valdes. "A common misconception among Tufts students is that they should take the census in their permanent addresses," said Valdes. "I want to let students know that they must take the census at Tufts so that federal funds are allocated efficiently."