Posted by Hal Dardick at 1:20 p.m.
Mayor Richard Daley continued his census push today in Humboldt Park, where officials believe residents were undercounted in the last U.S. Census.
“It doesn’t matter what status you are, you have to be counted,” Daley said at Humboldt Park’s city library. “If the data is not correct, Chicago will be short-changed not for one year, but for 10 years.”
Ald. Roberto Maldonado, 26th, said it’s OK to be counted "because that means that we can get more federal funding for public health, public safety and for the schools of our children.”
Maldonado and Ald. George Cardenas, 12th — whose wards include large numbers of Latinos — said immigrants sometimes fear taking part in the census, for fear of deportation, being arrested or even being penalized for having too many people living in a home.
The mayor stressed that all census data is confidential and cannot be used in those ways against folks who take part in the count. “It’s never been abused in the past,” he added.
“Historically, immigrants, because of fear — it’s the fear — have always been undercounted, and this is the year that we can show that we can count everyone,” Daley said.
Daley also announced a series of efforts to reach out to various groups — seniors, veterans, ex-offenders, immigrants, the homeless and students — historically undercounted in previous censuses.
Dozens of city libraries, including the branch Daley visited today, will provide census forms and assistance filling them out. For the first time, the city is working with groups to get former prisoners involved in filling out census forms.