LI mail response rate for Census down from 2000

After all the census awareness programs by scores of nonprofit groups and pleas from government leaders, Long Island did not improve on its mail response rate from 2000.

According to Census Bureau statistics released Wednesday, Long Island averaged a 70 percent mail back rate, down from 75 percent in 2000.

The national rate was 72 percent, the same as in 2000, Census Bureau director Robert Groves said Wednesday in a news conference. He said bureau staff were "dancing in the hallways," elated with the national response in light of research showing participation in all surveys has been declining.

"I haven't analyzed it in detail, but I think Long Island had a high bar to begin with. Rates of 74 and 76 percent [in 2000] is very good. That's better than the nation. To try to meet that high level is a tough nut to crack," said Steven Romalewski, director of the City University of New York's Center for Urban Research mapping service.

Seth Forman, chief planner for the Long Island Regional Planning Council, wondered if the Island's mail participation decline was affected by changing demographics, such as more immigrants, some of whom are undocumented, and the prevalence of illegal housing. He also wondered if there was a growing "skepticism" about government, making some residents dismissive of the census.

Forman said the mail response rates, generally and on Long Island, bear further study.

"I'm starting to see a trend and it's an unsettling one," he said. Areas with large "populations of blacks or minorities improved or stayed even at least, and predominantly white areas, suburban areas have declined," said Forman, who added he will be studying the question.

Meanwhile, local advocates saw a silver lining: census tracts in areas considered "hard to count" due to poverty and high numbers of immigrants and minorities, showed improvement from a decade ago, said Liz Axelrod, grants administrator for the Hagedorn Foundation, one of several philanthropic groups that raised $335,000 in grants to local nonprofits for census outreach.

She said individual census tracts in Hempstead, Oyster Bay and Uniondale improved by two percentage points at least. Romalewski found that in Wyandanch, one census tract improved its mail response by four points, going from 48 percent in 2000 to 52 percent in 2010.

"We know our grantees are doing census events, they're getting the word out, they're doing door-knocking campaigns," Axelrod said. "We couldn't be more happy with what they've done with the grant," adding, "we're in it for the long haul."

The Census Bureau will be sending out census takers starting on Saturday, to go door-to-door interviewing people who didn't return the census form.

Advocates note the importance of getting as accurate a population count as possible, because it affects how much federal aid localities receive in federal funding.