Schools, churches and local nonprofit organizations interested in promoting the census will have a little help soon from the Westmoreland County Complete Count Committee.

Aimed at collecting an accurate countywide count, the committee is offering mini-grants of up to $1,000 to help with necessary resources and training for an organization’s staff.

“The mini-grants can be used for a wide variety of purposes,” said Phil Koch, executive director of the Westmoreland County Community Foundation. “If organizations, schools or churches want to put on educational events, or if they want to buy educational materials, maybe they want to use it to buy an iPad … or some other device where folks can come and register for the census.”

The push for an accurate count is based on the benefits of the census, which include the allocation of congressional seats and determining how state and federal money is distributed. The U.S. Constitution requires that people be counted nationwide every 10 years.

Koch said the committee slated $20,000 for the grants and anticipates between 20 and 30 organizations to qualify for funding. The grants will be formally announced next week, and interested parties will have until Feb. 15 to apply.

If any money remains, another round of applications will be due by March 15.

Koch said officials want to focus on municipalities that have historically low response rates to the once-a-decade survey, including Greensburg, New Kensington, Arnold and Monessen.

“It’s part of the action plan we’ve been putting together,” Koch said. “How can we really get our nonprofit organizations and our schools, how can we them excited and engaged in the census process?”

He added that surrounding counties, including Allegheny, will roll out similar programs in the coming weeks.

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