BUFFALO, N.Y. — There's a push to make sure people on Buffalo's East Side are counted in this year's census.

Elected officials including New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes were at the BUILD Community Public School, asking residents to fill out the survey if they hadn't already.

To the majority leader, it was very fitting to be talking about the census in front of a school.

"Census numbers say how well schools are supported financially from the federal level of government. And so, if we're in a community where schools are desperately needing more resources, but the people who live in and around it refuse to be counted, you're literally impacting, negatively, the education of your children," said Peoples-Stokes.

Buffalo still has a census response rate of a little more than 53 percent, and the East Side has some of lowest response rates in the city.

A federal judge pushed the deadline date to fill out the census back to October 31 instead of September 30.