Overview of Census 2010

							OVERVIEW OF 2010 CENSUS


        PRESTON JAY WAITE
        Acting Deputy Director
Associate Director for Decennial Census
Why A Census?
• Constitutionally mandated for
  apportionment
• Draw congressional, state, and local
  legislative districts
• Allocate federal funds for state, local,
  and tribal governments –
  (over $182 billion annually)
The Census is Big

• Must count everyone
  – An estimated 309 million people
  – 130 million households
  – 50 states and DC
  – Puerto Rico and the Island Areas
  – 50+ different languages
Many Challenges
• Mobile population

• Informal and complex housing arrangements

• Distrust in government

• The difficulty of hiring, training and mobilizing
  approximately 500,000 workers for over
  860,000 jobs
What It Took To Conduct
Census 2000

• Rented and equipped 520 Local Census Offices (LCOs) and 12
  Regional Census Centers (RCCs)
• Answered About 5.8 Million Telephone Assistance Calls
• 49 Languages for Questionnaire Assistance Guides
• 27,000 Local Questionnaire Assistance Centers and 520
  Temporary Field Offices
• Tabulated Data for 9 Million Census Blocks and 39,000
  Governmental Units
• Captured Data From 1.5 Billion Pieces of Paper
The Census is expensive

• Must contain costs
  – Increase mail response
    • Most cost effective way to conduct a census
  – Reduce non-response follow-up
    • Very expensive to send enumerators to each
      household not returning a questionnaire
  – Encourage cooperation with enumerators
    • Less expensive if enumerator only has to visit
      once
On the Right Track

• Census 2000 was an overall success
  – First ever paid advertising program
  – Most extensive national and local
    partnership program
  – Halted trend of declining response rates
  – Increased mail response rate
  – Reduced undercount
• Still room for improvement
Short Timeframe

• In less than 6 months, must count
  everyone
• Census Day is April 1, 2010
• Deliver apportionment count by
  December 31, 2010
2010 Decennial Census

• Short-form only census
  – Only 6 subjects are covered
    - Name      - Age
    - Race      - Tenure
    - Sex       - Relationship
• Multiple-contact mailing strategy
  – Based on research
  – Mailing strategy and materials set for 2010
     •   Advance letter
     •   Questionnaire
     •   Reminder postcard
     •   Replacement questionnaire
• Use of hand held computers
  – Address canvassing
  – Personal interviews
  – Non-response follow up
• Other data collection operations
  – Operations developed to reach those without city-
    style addresses, with special living situations, or
    with no usual residence.

  – Non-response follow up
     • Most expensive operation in the decennial
     • The smaller the workload the better
     • Enumerators will make up to 6 attempts to collect data
       from non-responding households
     • We want to encourage cooperation with enumerators, so
       we can get the data on the first visit
Communications Can Help
  – Requires a different kind of
    communications program
  – A lot of research and testing has been
    done since Census 2000
  – We have worked closely with our
    stakeholders, advisory committees, and
    oversight groups
  – We think we’ve designed a good program
    and a good product – we now need your
    help in making our program relevant and
    meaningful
• An Integrated Communications Program
  Can:
  – Provide the right marketing mix (including grass
    roots) to help us meet our goals
  – Provide unifying themes and messages
  – Make residents aware of the Census
  – Motivate mail response
  – Encourage cooperation with enumerators
  – Provide informational support for field operations
  – Help reduce the undercount
     • Reach those populations historically hard to count
     • Help communicate who should be included on the form
Ultimate Success


• Count everybody
• Count them once and only once
• Count them in the right place