After interviewing thousands, local Census takers near end of surveying

After visiting thousands of area households that didn't mail back their Census forms, local census employees will spend the next several weeks making some follow-up phone calls or visits to ensure the accuracy of their data.

Nationally, employees of the U.S. Census Bureau have visited more than 48 million households that hadn't returned a Census form. In Connecticut, about 400,000 addresses were visited by Census employees, according to the Boston Regional Census Center. The regional center is responsible for all of New England, as well as upstate New York and Puerto Rico.

Census workers throughout the country are now in the process of re-interviewing a small percentage of those surveyed, to double check the original information received. People from 20,000 households statewide will likely be re-interviewed. Workers will also check on homes that have been classified as vacant or non-existent. If an address was incorrectly classified, an interview will be completed for that address. "The goal is to be accurate and not miss anybody," said William Gleason, manager of the Bridgeport Census office.

The Bridgeport Census office alone sent workers to 86,616 households in the 10 Fairfield County communities it serves. Gleason said his staff completed their original interviews last week, and he expects the re-interviews to be done within the next week. Statewide, the re-interviews are about 90 percent complete.

Gleason said the checks of his region's 17,000 vacant or non-existent addresses should be complete by mid-August. He said his office employed about a thousand workers, who did an admirable job. Much of their efforts were focused in the Bridgeport area, where about 34,000 addresses were visited.

"Bridgeport is a challenging city," Gleason said. "And the tornado didn't help."

The twister, which hit the city June 24, left some buildings uninhabitable and made many areas of the city difficult to access. But Gleason said, despite these obstacles, workers got the job done.

There had been an effort this year in Bridgeport and other major cities to get the word out about the Census, particularly to minority residents and immigrants.

In Bridgeport, a Complete Count Committee comprised of about 50 local leaders, city employees and social services agencies, worked to emphasize the confidentiality of any information given to the Census Bureau. Local nonprofits, like ABCD, Inc., also offered information sessions on filling out the forms.