Buffalo, a city where the population has been falling for more than a half century, wants to be more aggressive when it comes to getting an accurate count during the upcoming 2010 U. S. census.

Mayor Byron W. Brown on Wednesday announced the formation of a “Buffalo Complete Count Committee” to target parts of the city and demographic groups — refugees, immigrants, minorities, homebound senior citizens, the homeless—that are traditionally at risk of being undercounted during the decennial census.

At stake: many millions of dollars in federal funding for Buffalo.

Census figures are used to help disburse $400 billion in federal funds each year to state and local governments. The census also determines how many seats each state will have in the House of Representatives. New York lost two seats in 2000, due to its declining population, and is projected to lose two more this time around.

“We don’t believe we can afford to be undercounted,” said Brown, noting Buffalo gets more than $20 million alone in federal community development block grant funds. “We’re going to really get into the community and make sure the people of Buffalo know the importance of the census.”

While details are still a little sketchy, the city — which received a $109,000 state grant to create the count committee — will team up over the next few months with community groups and local Census Bureau operations to urge residents to complete and return their census forms.

Part of the challenge will be assuring some people the census won’t be used to wrongfully target them, said Kenya K. Hobbs, chairman of the committee.

“We’ve heard from a number of community residents that if they fill out the census, the IRS will be coming after them; or for the immigrant population, an immigration officer will be looking for them,” Hobbs said. “We want to get that message out that this is a very secure process.”

Buffalo’s population has steadily declined since 1950, dropping to 292,648 at the time of the 2000 census. More recent Census Bureau estimates show the city’s population has dropped even more since then.

Brown hopes that by reaching out to Buffalo residents more will return their census forms, resulting in less of a population loss for the city—or even a slight gain.

A government audit suggested the 2000 census undercounted three million Americans, including 209,000 statewide, but it’s unclear how many may have been missed in Buffalo.

“The forms are easy to fill out,” Brown said. “There’s nothing for people to feel intimidated about.”

Brown’s announcement was made in the Father Vincent Belle Center on Maryland Street on the Lower West Side — one of those hard-to-count neighborhoods—where he was joined by Robert A. Coffey, census office manager in Buffalo.

The 2010 census — the 23rd census since the national head count was started in 1790 — officially kicks off April 1, but forms will start arriving at homes about the middle of March, Coffey said.

Preparations, however, have been in the works for some time, including an effort to get Western New York municipalities to review local addresses on record with the bureau to ensure an accurate count.

One of the changes that may make a difference this year is the Census Bureau’s use of the short form only, in an attempt to get a more accurate count. The long form has been replaced by an annual Census Bureau survey that asks more detailed questions from a sampling of Americans.

“It will be the shortest census form in history — 10 questions,” Coffey said. “When you get the form in the mail, fill it out and mail it back.”

Coffey also said about 4,000 to 5,000 people in Western New York will be hired as census employees for eight to 10 weeks this spring.

For more information, call (866) 861-2010 or check out

www.2010censusjobs.gov

.