In this report:
- Overview
- The Importance of the Census
- Census Accuracy: The Undercount (and Overcount)
- Census 2010: Key Operations and Milestones; How You Can Get Involved
- Additional Information
How You Can Prepare for a Fair and Complete Count
Although Census Day is April 1, 2010, many key local activities must take place now and continue through 2010 to ensure the best count possible. Here are some suggestions for how communities can prepare for the 2010 census:
Address List Development
A complete list of every residential address in the country is fundamental to an accurate census. The Census Bureau has been updating its Master Address File (MAF) for several years, working with the Postal Service and local governments. The Bureau has already hired thousands of workers to verify address lists in rural, suburban, and urban communities. Temporary workers walk (or drive) every block and street to check addresses and add or delete information, as necessary. Stakeholders can work with local governments (city and county) to provide address information to the Census Bureau.
Foreign Language Assistance
Census forms will be sent to most households in English; about 13 million homes will receive a bilingual form in English and Spanish. The Telephone Questionnaire Assistance line is a toll-free number listed on the form and advertised in other ways, which respondents can use to receive help in English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Russian. The Bureau also plans to set up Questionnaire Assistance Centers to help people fill out their forms. The centers will have questionnaire guides in over 50 languages to help non-English speakers fill out the forms.
Stakeholders can help the Census Bureau identify appropriate locations for questionnaire assistance centers, then promote use of the centers through local social organizations, places of worship, community-based newspapers or newsletters, places of employment, service providers (i.e. health clinics), and other places where people tend to congregate. They can also recruit volunteers to help staff questionnaire assistance centers during the census.
Organizations that house these centers will receive funding from the Census Bureau to pay the salary of a part- or full-time staff person to staff a QAC; interested organizations should contact their regional office.
Promotion, Outreach, and Advertising
The Census Bureau has an integrated communications campaign consisting of paid advertising, the partnership program, and Census in Schools, to increase participation in the census. The Bureau will provide promotional materials to partners. It has contracted with Scholastic, Inc. to develop and distribute a Census in Schools program. The purpose is to encourage and help educators to include information on the census in their curricula.
Government, nonprofit, corporate, and community organizations that have not already done so should partner with the Census Bureau. To become an official regional/local 2010 Census Partner, telephone the regional office that serves your area. To become an official national partner, visit 2010 Census Partners.
Stakeholders can work with local elected officials (particularly mayors or county commissioners) to establish a Complete Count Committee (CCC) for the city or county, as soon as possible. The CCC, usually headed by the mayor or other top officials, should include representatives from a wide range of local social and economic sectors, such as ministers and other religious leaders, civil rights activists, corporate and union officials, media, entertainment, and sports personalities, educators, community-service providers, and other civic or business influential people in the community. The CCC should work with the Census Bureau's regional partnership specialists, who can provide information, promotional materials, and speakers.
They can also convene a 2010 Census Community Kick-off with trusted leaders, motivate high-level trusted community leaders to support the census, educate residents about the importance of being counted, publicize the census through community-level communication networks, and publicize the census at community festivals, parades, special events, and local and ethnic media.
The Homeless
The homeless will be counted through a separate enumeration effort focused on service providers such as shelters, soup kitchens, or health clinics that serve the homeless. Stakeholders can help the Census Bureau identify places that provide shelter, food, health care, job training, or other services to the homeless.
Next Section: Jobs for Census 2010
