After weeks of training and designing, the moment had arrived Friday for teens Angelica Hernandez, Michael Gonzales and Luis Sanchez to do their part for the 2010 census.
As they approached the Amparo Apartments in the Five Points neighborhood, census worker Syrma Quiñones asked the obvious.
“Are you nervous?”
“Yes,” they answered in unison.
They had free census pens and pencils to hand out along with a one- page, orange-colored description of why residents should fill out their U.S. census forms.
Angelica, 14, and Luis, 16, went first, knocking on a door in the apartment complex. Michael, 16, awaited his turn.
No answer. At the fourth apartment, a woman cracked open the door, but only to inform them in Spanish she was too busy.
Finally, at the next apartment, they hit the jackpot.
A jovial man answered and listened as Angelica and Luis explained in Spanish how each person counted by the census was worth the equivalent of $826 in government funds and urged him to fill out his form when it arrived next year.
He thanked them after they handed him a pen, pencil and census decal.
Friday was the culmination of five weeks of training for about 30 at-risk teens on the upcoming census as part of Denver’s YouthBiz program to teach business and leadership skills to youths.
It is also part of the effort by the city of Denver and the U.S. Census Bureau to create awareness of the upcoming decennial population count. Forms will be mailed out in March.
The teens earlier had held a competition for T-shirt design. The winning entry depicted a drawing of a bleak neighborhood with broken windows and trash that didn’t respond to the census next to a vibrant neighborhood with clean streets that had a high census response.
“It shows how the neighborhood changes over time. That people can make a difference,” said Laura Villalobos, 17, a member of the winning design team.
All of the teens wore the T-shirts with the headline “We All Count” during the canvassing.
They arrived at 9 a.m. Friday for a pep talk and some role-playing with pretend homeowners before they hit the streets in teams of three teens and an adult. They carried clipboards that listed each team’s targeted homes.
After about an hour, they reconvened at the YouthBiz office. Quiñones gave her team high-fives. “You guys were amazing.”
Then everyone swapped stories.
Several told of their encounters with dogs. One teen described how the woman behind the closed door said she couldn’t talk because she was naked.
But they had passed out all of their fliers and given away most of their pens and pencils.
Next Friday is their reward: a potluck and giant water balloon fight in Curtis Park.
Burt Hubbard: 303-954-5107 or bhubbard@denverpost.com
