The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Census 2000 Table of Contents

Background

• An Overview
• The Affect of an Undercount on Local Communities
• Children
• Workers And Their Families
• Education
• People of Color
• Individuals With Disabilities
• Senior Citizens
• Rural Areas
• Business

Census Bureau's Plan

• The Census Bureau's Plan For Census 2000
• Legal Challenges To Sampling
• How Do We Know There Is An Undercount?
• The Difference Between Redistricting and Reapportionment
• What The Experts Say
• What The Newspapers Say
• Frequently Asked Questions
• The Importance Of The Ancestry Question
• Achieving Accuracy In The 2000 Census

Census History

• Facts and Figures
• Census History: 1790-1990
• Census Timeline: 1990-2000

Census 2000 In Your Community

• How You Can Start Preparing For A Fair And Complete Count
• Contacting The Census Bureau

The Census Bureau's Plan For Census 2000

1. Mail to Every Home Three Times

• Early March, 2000: letters will be mailed to every home in the nation alerting residents that census forms will be arriving soon;
• Mid-March, 2000: census forms will be delivered to every home by the Postal Service or by enumerators in some rural or remote areas;
• Late March, 2000: Letters will be sent to all households reminding them to return the Census Form by April 1, 2000 - CENSUS DAY;
• Early April, 2000: The Census Bureau is considering mailing a replacement form to every home in case the first one was overlooked or misplaced; and,
• April 2000: "Be Counted" forms will be available in public places such as churches, convenience stores, and post offices to make participation in the census as easy as possible.

2. Go Door to Door to Reach Homes That Have Not Responded Late April to June 2000

• About 300,000 census takers will go door to door to follow-up with households that have not responded to the mailing. Based on previous experience, we know that less than two-thirds of all households are likely to mail back their forms.
• Census enumerators also may revisit housing units that are identified as vacant or nonexistent in earlier operations, or that submit incomplete questionnaires, to ensure that all residents are counted.

3. Use National Advertising to Educate Every Individual About the Importance of Responding to the Census

• For the first time in history, the Census Bureau will launch a paid national advertising campaign urging everyone to participate in the census. The campaign will include television, radio and outdoor advertising. Some of the ads will be tailored to hard-to-count communities.

4. Use Special Outreach to Contact and Encourage Everyone to Return Their Census Form, Including People Who Do Not Have a Fixed Address

• A toll-free number will be advertised and staffed with multi-lingual operators to assist people with their forms. Census forms in English, Spanish, and four other languages will be available in schools, civic and community centers, stores and malls, and other appropriate places. People can visit assistance centers for help in completing their questionnaires. Instructional materials will be available in about 30 languages.
• The Census Bureau will also send outreach workers to homeless shelters, soup kitchens and other locations used by people who do not have a residential address.

5. When the Door to Door Visits Are Completed, the Census Bureau Will Use Scientific Methods and Quality Checks to Ensure the Census Is Accurate

• As we learned in 1990, the Census will not reach everyone no matter how hard the Bureau tries. After the visits to unresponsive households are completed, census takers will conduct a large, quality check statistical survey of representative household s nationwide to ensure the accuracy of the final Census numbers. This "post enumeration survey" will measure how many people were missed or counted twice during the direct counting operations and provide the basis for a possible correction of the initial tally. In this way, the Census Bureau will have made every effort to count everyone in 2000.