WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The 2010 U.S. Census will directly affect how more than $3 trillion in federal funding is allocated to local and state agencies and programs over the next 10 years. The count also determines how many congressional representatives states get and helps to shape policy decisions for the rest of the decade.
But, the Census Bureau can’t count those it can’t find.
“It’s very possible that some African Americans or Spanish-speaking persons were under-counted in previous Census because there may have been some belief that making face-time with the government was not in their best interests,” said Arnold Jackson, chief operating officer for the decennial Census.
Jackson, who is black, says although the last Census in 2000 had an under-count of less than one-half percent, he believes masses of people have gone uncounted in the past because of a lack of returned data. Fewer than 60 percent of African Americans returned their 2000 Census questionnaire, compared to 77.5 percent of whites, according to the Census Bureau.
This is the reason that Jackson says that the next Census, to begin April 1, 2010, will involve strategies to assure the maximum number of hard-to-count individuals are counted.
“We’ll have 140,000 people running across the country verifying addresses and updating our database,” Jackson told the NNPA News Service.
The Census Bureau will also partner with national grass-roots organizations that have specific missions to reach out and ensure that “hard-to-reach” groups are represented.
With an estimated 310 million people residing in the United States, counting each person is one of the largest, most arduous processes the government undertakes. The Census Bureau is making it a priority of locating “hard-to-count” groups such as blacks and immigrants.
They will start by sending 145 million households a questionnaire with 10 questions that will be available in multiple languages. The questionnaire has been revised and streamlined from the previous long-form version that many considered as too intrusive.
The questionnaires, which every citizen will be required to answer by law, will provide the Census Bureau with a bulk of its data. Jackson stresses that the form will only take 10 minutes to complete and that all responses will be used for statistical purposes only. The U.S. Census Bureau does not ask about the legal status of respondents in any of its surveys or programs.
The effort will cost taxpayers almost $12 billion, according to a 2008 budget request submitted by the Department of Commerce. This is the most expensive count ever, which Jackson says underscores the crucial purpose of the count.
