By Serena Solomon
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS — When it comes to counting the flock, local census officials are looking to some holy hands for help with the 2010 Census.
The Church of the Ascension and Father John Duffell have a deep presence in Manhattan Valley, something that census outreach workers have been tapping into for the last 18 months. With the church's services and own outreach program, this trusted voice encouraging census participation is able to reach non-English speakers and those who may be skeptical of government.
"I think everybody should recognize the importance of the census," said Duffell who has lead the 115-year-old church on W. 107th Street and Broadway for the last 15 years. "All institutes should encourage people to fulfill their obligation to be counted. "
He regularly mentions the census to his congregation, including in the parish newsletter, preparing people for Census Day on April 1st this year.
Altagracia Hiraldo, founder of non-profit Dominican Sunday that came out of the Church of the Ascension 15 years ago, has also found herself on the front line of census outreach. Through free English and citizenship classes run by Dominican Sunday at the church, Hiraldo has a community influence that is extremely valuable to census organizers.
The last census in 2000 counted 207,699 people in Community Board 7, the area where the church and Dominican Sunday are located. More then 10 percent of people counted where not proficient in English.
"To all the community I tell them the importance to be counted, the importance to be registered whoever lives here in the U.S," she said, speaking from her organization's small offices at 175 W. 107th Street. "It is important for many reasons."
Hiraldo said the whole community benefits when everybody puts their hand up to be counted. For the House of Representatives all the way in Washington, census statistics play an important role in the annual allocation of $400 billion in funding, according to the 2010 Census website.
"Those who are not registered we are going to loose resources, good health, apartments," Hiraldo said. "Registered means more powerful."
Back at the states census headquarters, Raul Vicente, the senior media specialist for the census in New York and New Jersey, estimates that census outreach would be five to six times the current cost if it were not for the voluntarily help of religious institutions and other non-profits.
He said that census outreach workers have kept busy attending street fairs, programs and services that are standard procedure for these community organizations.
"Well actually they (religious institutions) are the must crucial because they have the most contact with the community," said Vicente. "The church is a voice in the community."
