The clock is ticking.

With billions of federal dollars and prospective political power at stake, local officials and community leaders are collaborating with census workers as they embark on the most labor-intensive part of the once-a-decade effort to make sure everyone is counted.

Census workers this week began to fan out across Berks County to visit those households that have not yet responded to the 2020 questionnaire.

This phase of the census, which represents the largest peacetime mobilization the federal government oversees, was derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. The public health crisis forced the Census Bureau to suspend field operations for nearly two months and to push back the completion of the census to the end of October.

Overcoming disruptions

Steve Shope, supervisory partnership specialist for the Philadelphia Regional Census Center, acknowledged that the pandemic forced the bureau to put some efforts on hold.

“We build an entire department to do this every 10 years, we hire nearly 500,000 people nationwide to count every single person and then dismantle it down to the last paper clip,” he said. “So being able to adapt to the circumstances is part and parcel of what the Census Bureau is built to do.”

While the bureau was able to launch a social media and advertising push, it has had virtually no presence in the community. And, he said, that is particularly troublesome in neighborhoods where the bureau knows outreach is so crucial.

But because it costs money to deploy census workers, he said the bureau is making one last push to get people to respond online, by phone or through the mail before workers head out in large numbers.

“We work very closely with elected officials and key stakeholders in Berks County so we are continually sharing information and coming up with new ways to improve the response rate,” he said. “I think our partners have devised some effective strategies to get the word out.”

Shope said that hard work has so far resulted in a good response rate in Berks County.

As of this week, 70% of county households had answered the census questions on their own. That performance has outpaced the state average, ranking Berks 14th best out of the 67 counties.

“That is a phenomenal response rate,” he said. “It’s well above the state and national response rate at this point. I really can’t complain about Berks County as a whole.”

But, Shope said, more work needs to be done in Reading.

As of this week, 48% of Reading households had answered the census questions on their own. That response rate is down significantly from the 62% of households that filled out the forms on their own in the 2010 census.

Accuracy is crucial

The 2020 census serves as a snapshot.

A snapshot of America that determines how much money hospitals get to run their outreach programs to underserved communities, how much the county gets to invest in roads and bridges, how many students get free lunches and how congressional seats are apportioned.

Shope said an undercount would have significant implications.

“Without accurate data you can’t accurately serve a population,” he said. “I think this pandemic may have even highlighted the importance of making sure every person is counted so that each community gets the money it is entitled to get.”

Berks had several neighborhoods that went undercounted in 2010. In much of Reading, along with some other communities around the county, census officials determined the number of people who responded was less than the actual population.

Local leaders say they want to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Commissioner Kevin S. Barnhardt, who is leading the Berks County Complete Count Committee, said he is proud of its members for continuing to work through the pandemic and appreciates the financial support local leaders have invested in the effort.

“Now that the stay-at-home restrictions have eased, we are going to be back on the streets,” he said. “Things are coming together, and I think the extra time we were given will help us make sure we get this count right.”

In fact, he pointed out that one of the biggest events organized in partnership with the committee took place Tuesday in Reading.

A Census Caravana embarked on a city-wide sweep aimed at maximizing participation as census enumerators with the ability to enroll residents online accompanied city officials on the tour. Kiosks were set up at several senior citizen high-rises, four city schools and a supermarket throughout the city.

Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan highlighted the importance of the 2020 census and how it will directly impact the communities she serves in Berks and Chester counties in a conference call on Tuesday. The Chester County Democrat pointed out that in her congressional district residents in Reading, along with those in Coatesville and West Chester, have traditionally been undercounted.

"We keep hearing that we need to fill out the census, but we are never really told why we need to fill out the census," she said, noting a recent report released by the House Oversight and Reform Committee that outlined some of these key points. "Here are some of the line items that leapt out to me: missing just one person could reduce health care funding annually by $1,746, education funding by $774 and job training by $128. And again, that's if we miss just one person."

Houlahan said the numbers she cited are alarming. She said the overall message she hopes her constituents take away from that information is that a complete count is crucial to getting the resources and representation available to ensure their neighborhoods will be able to serve their needs.

"To be counted is to be heard," she said.

Michael Toledo, president and CEO of the Daniel Torres Hispanic Center in Reading, echoed that sentiment.

Toledo, who joined Houlahan on the conference call, shared that the center has taken on a bigger role in stressing the impact the census count will have on decisions after the pandemic subsides. He noted that funding for most of the programs that his clients depend on for medical assistance and supplemental nutrition assistance are determined by data derived from the census.

Facing challenges

But still, he acknowledged, there are a combination of challenges the community is facing that have likely contributed to the even lower-than-usual response rate.

Toledo said part of the depressed participation among Latinos in the census stemmed from the controversy over the proposal by President Donald Trump to include a citizenship question. The move was blocked by the Supreme Court on the grounds that its ostensible reasoning seemed to have been contrived.

Toledo said the center is making sure residents know that the citizenship question never made it onto the questionnaire and assuring them that the Census Bureau is strictly prohibited from sharing information with any other governmental agency.

“That caused a lot of people in our community to be afraid to complete the census for fear of retatliation," he said. "We have been trying to do our best to educate people on the issue but there is still fear out there."

Toledo said the pandemic was also a big factor. He said not having people on the ground for the past several months has been a hindrance.

"We all have a role to play," he said. "It's just a matter of finding out what that role is, encouraging others to participate and educating others about the positive impact it can have on our communities."