Boston is lagging in Census readiness

The city has yet to formally announce the formation of its “complete count committee,’’ despite a suggestion by the Census Bureau to have such groups officially launched by last spring or summer, said Thomas Ginsberg, who led the study of Boston and 10 other major US cities.

“All the cities are . . . having difficulties to various degrees because of resources,’’ Ginsberg said. In addition to Boston, the cities of Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit have not announced the creation of their committees.

“It’s not an insurmountable thing, but it does put them behind where the Census Bureau ideally wants them at this point,’’ Ginsberg said of Boston’s preparations. “That’s not to say that it hasn’t done work internally or made progress.’’

Dot Joyce, spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino, said the city will announce the makeup of the committee soon and unveil its mission, which is to help ensure through outreach and education that as many residents as possible are counted for the 2010 Census. Joyce said that the city began its work to build a broad, diverse panel in December.

The committee is expected to en compass a wide spectrum, Joyce said, from city officials to varied minority groups, faith-based organizations, the Housing Authority, cultural institutions, and labor interests.

Joyce defended the city’s preparations for the Census and said, “We will leverage all available resources’’ to compile an accurate count.

The numbers are critical to a fair nationwide distribution of federal money for such vital needs as health, education, and transportation.

In fiscal 2008, Washington allocated $430 billion based on population- and demographic-based statistics.

Census data also are used to determine the number of congressional seats allotted to each state.

“We want to make sure that we educate every resident of the city because the Census is something that everybody should be participating in,’’ Joyce said.

Although the city will pay the salary of a Census coordinator, Joyce said, she was unsure whether any other city funds would be committed to the effort.

Among the other cities surveyed, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh had not set aside any money specifically for Census outreach.

Boston officials expect significant financial help from local and statewide donors for an ambitious campaign to reach typically hard-to-count residents, such as immigrants, renters, and victims of home foreclosure.

The Access Strategies Fund, which addresses economic and social issues in minority communities, plans to commit $500,000 to such work statewide, with a sizable portion of the money funneled to Boston.

“Boston is in a better position than several other cities because it has money lined up’’ from outside sources, Ginsberg said.

But plunging municipal revenue and staff shortages mean that many cities cannot afford to allocate money or manpower specifically for Census awareness.

While the federal government administers the count, the states and cities have a keen, vested interest in spreading the word.

“The end result is that the sooner they can get on with this, the better,’’ Ginsberg said. “But being on schedule or ahead of schedule is only one measure of the effectiveness of the campaign. There are lots of things that can go right or wrong.’’

To improve the nation’s 67 percent rate of mail-in responses in 2000 - a figure that was neither matched nor exceeded by any of the 11 cities in the Pew survey - the Census Bureau is mounting a $300 million campaign to encourage residents to return next year’s 10-question form.

Boston’s mail-in rate in 2000 was 57 percent, Ginsberg said.

An increase in mailed forms is important to Census officials, who must follow up on unreturned questionnaires with expensive, time-consuming visits to individual addresses.

Despite such aggressive publicity, federal officials are preparing for a wide range of potential obstacles, including an outbreak of the H1N1 flu and a possible Census boycott by immigrants fearful of the government.

The US Commerce Department this month decided against a temporary halt to large immigration raids, a respite that advocates said might encourage more participation.

In the end, much of the work will be generated at street level.

“All the cities are looking at a situation where, if they can’t get an infusion of financial help from philanthropies, they’ll have to rely more on grass-roots neighborhood organizations, volunteers, and unpaid people,’’ Ginsberg said. “That looks like the reality for most.’’