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GREENSBORO — A local nonprofit has received a grant to help include immigrants and refugees in the 2010 Census.

Immigrants are among those groups historically undercounted in the 10-year census, which determines federal funding and government representation, said Mark Sills, executive director of FaithAction International House .

The Greensboro nonprofit was tapped for a $3,000 grant through the Southern Coalition for Social Justice .

FaithAction also is part of the Guilford County Complete Count Committee , which is working to make next year’s count go smoothly.

“Our special part in that is reaching out to the immigrant/refugee population to make sure they understand what the census is, how they can participate and that it’s safe to participate,” Sills said.

“A lot of folks ... come from countries where the government is not to be trusted,” he said.

FaithAction plans to use the grant to translate documents into Spanish, French and Arabic — the three-largest language groups with which it works.

The nonprofit also will put together census information to fold into workshops and conferences it holds within the refugee and immigrant communities in the Triad.

In the last census, North Carolina may have lost millions in funding because of an undercount, according to the U.S. Census Monitoring Board . North Carolina’s population tally likely missed about 110,980 people.

The U.S. Constitution requires the census to be taken every 10 years and that everyone living in the United States, including noncitizens, be counted.

All information is private and cannot be turned over to other government agencies, Sills said.

Questionnaires will be mailed or delivered in March .

The 2010 Census will be a short-form questionnaire, asking only questions such as name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, relationship and housing tenure.

It is expected to take less than 10 minutes to complete.

U.S. marshals conducted the first census in 1790 , combing the country on horseback. They counted 3.9 million residents.

The last census, in 2000 , counted more than 281 million people. It’s estimated that nearly 3.4 million people were not counted.

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jennifer.fernandez@news-record.com