Tests for people attempting to join the Complete Count local liaison group have been conducted for over a year on a rolling basis, according to Waldon. The group’s key roles have been to publicize widely that the census is coming, that the census process is easy, that all collected data is confidential even to other government bureaus, and that an accurate count is crucial for the well-being of community programs and services.

Thomas J. Lucey, Harvard’s director of community relations for Cambridge and a member of Cambridge’s Complete Count Committee, said the Cambridge Election Commission approached him to serve as “a point of contact” between Harvard and Cambridge, because the city needed assistance in counting all of Harvard’s students. But according to Lucey, Harvard and Cambridge have each been working independently to push people to return their forms.

In addition community outreach groups, the Census Bureau has heavily employed paid advertisements in cities across the country this year.

“10 Questions. 10 Minutes. Make a difference!” exclaims a poster plastered to the side of an MBTA bus. Such advertisements are ubiquitous in Cambridge—some cars on the Red Line of the T have been entirely filled with Census ads.

According to Waldon, the 2000 Census marked the first time the Bureau employed widespread advertising.

“They found the first increase in accuracy,” she said. “After that they have done a much larger scale of paid advertisement to help increase awareness.”

—Staff writer Rediet T. Abebe can be reached at rtesfaye@college.harvard.edu.