Representatives for the impending U.S. Census count have converged onto the Bronx, stopping by various organizations to lay out what residents should expect for the nationwide tally aimed at determining federal funding and electoral lines.

Among the biggest takeaways from census reps is reassuring people with an undocumented status that their participation is not only crucial but also protected.

Maria Matos, a partnership specialist assigned to the Bronx by the U.S. Census Bureau, spends part of her time informing Bronxites that census information is confidential and protected by federal law. She was most recently at the monthly Bedford Mosholu Community Association, where she noted that Title 13 of the U.S. Code punishes anyone violating that confidentiality by a federal prison sentence of up to five years, a fine of up to $250,000, or both.

Census officials are also reminding everyone that the work done at the bureau is carried out under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Commerce and not Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In fact, the 2020 Census questionnaire will not have a citizenship question included nor be shared with ICE. Such questions are kept confidential for 72 years.

Preparation for the census goes back a year and has continued since.

At a forum held at Lehman College last October about the 2020 Census, the school’s president, Daniel Lemons, pointed to the issue of “undercounting” as “a pervasive problem in New York City.” Lemons added, “It is the families and communities who have been historically hard to count who stand to benefit the most from an accurate and complete count in census 2020.”

Underscoring the financial impact of an accurate 2020 count, Assemblyman Marcos Crespo has stated that $675 billion per year is at stake for New York state annually. Among programs and services affected are Medicaid, SNAP, transportation, hospitals, parks, and education.

Locally, Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC) was chosen to receive a $150,000 grant to help get residents counted. The Northwest Bronx Community & Clergy Coalition received $125,000 for census-related education and organizing.

For many people who have a social media presence, whether undocumented or not, Matos points out, they have revealed more about their private lives to the public than required by the census questionnaire.

“If immigration wants any information, they have a thousand ways of finding your information,” Matos said. “For all undocumented individuals that we all know, they put everything on Facebook. If ICE wants information, they have other ways [because] they can’t get it from the census.”

The count begins on April 1, with the census starting this month in remote parts of Alaska