By Ivana Martinez

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, artist Ekene Ijeoma and his group Poetic Justice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology began thinking about potential miscounts in the U.S census.

The Census Bureau was significantly impacted in its ability to collect data on households and different populations in the country due to public health restrictions.

In response to the difficulties the bureau faces, Ijeoma’s group launched an art project called ‘A Counting.’ It invites people to call in and count to 100 in their native language. Ogden is one of the five cities in the nation to participate in the project.

Ijeoma said they were thinking about how many marginalized communities historically have been underrepresented in census counts.