The City of Buffalo is holding daily events or media availabilities to continue a push to get more people to respond to the US Census. On Monday, leaders from Buffalo Public Schools joined Mayor Byron Brown for the latest pitch.
"We are at a point where the response rate is still too low," said Mayor Brown. "We are still below 54 percent response. And that's not good enough. It's not good enough for our healthcare systems. It's not good enough for public safety. It's not good enough for community based programs, and it's certainly not good enough for our public schools."
Buffalo Public Schools receive about $100 million of federal funds yearly, though Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash indicated that amount may rise to $130 million this year. He spoke of one of the essential services Buffalo Public Schools provide with their federal allocation.
"We have been serving now up to over 3.6 million meals to families Monday, Wednesday and Friday," he said. "Those dollars are federal dollars, and the food security and nutritional issues of our community are at stake, as well."
The deadline to respond to the US Census is October 31. The deadline was extended last week following a federal court ruling that the original September 30 cutoff set by the Trump Administration did not provide an adequatge period of time to generate more accurate numbers.
