Census Bureau gets a head start on the head count
Local office opens with pleas to community leaders for support
Nov, 23-2009 12:31 pm
By SUZANNE MARINO
Staff Writer
NORTHFIELD – The regional office for the 2010 census held an open house Friday, Nov. 20, inviting media and community stakeholders to hear about the importance of getting people to return the forms that are scheduled to arrive in their mailboxes in early 2010.
The Census Bureau will oversee the count in Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties from the Tilton Road office. Officials said they expect to hire 1,500 to 2,000 temporary census workers or enumerators from that office who will be looking to gather information from county residents who fail to return the census form mailed to them.
The census form this year has been greatly simplified, according to Dennis Burke, manager of the Northfield office.
There are only 10 questions, and unlike the census of 2000 where one in six residents received a long form census that asked in-depth questions, this year everyone will be receiving the same form. Burke said the form should take about 10 minutes to complete.
Nunzio Cerniglia, the assistant regional census manager from the Philadelphia regional center, said the census helps form the partnership for local, state and federal government and emphasized the importance of returning the form.
“I cannot think of a better return on your 10-minute investment,” Cerniglia said.
“There is a lot of money riding on this. There is about $400 billion in funding, and having proper census numbers will determine how much of that money will come to the county for road projects, schools and hospitals.”
The decennial count also determines the apportionment of governmental representatives, and the number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives is tied to the population in each legislative district.
The census is not new. In writing our Constitution, the fathers of our nation called for a census to be taken every 10 years.
The first census was taken in 1790 with Thomas Jefferson heading the effort, and the country is now on the verge of its 23rd census.
The country’s demographics have changed over the years, and the census should provide a new portrait of who we are as Americans, according to Cerniglia.
To encourage returns of the forms and to reach all people living within our borders the questionnaire will be available in English, Spanish, Korean, Russian, Chinese and Vietnamese. There will also be help centers where census takers can help residents fill out their form in 59 different languages.
The Census Bureau has a theme to this year’s census: “It’s in our hands.”
Officials are turning to community stakeholders such as ministers, schoolteachers and shopkeepers to help encourage people to complete their census form.
“We have learned that some people are more likely to do something if a trusted voice from the community says it rather than the government,” Cerniglia said.
Interviews and testing for census workers is starting in Northfield. U.S. citizens over 18 are eligible. Applicants must pass a written test that will be administered.
Census takers will be dispatched to work in areas they are familiar with. They will be attempting to gather information from people who did not return the form and people who might be reluctant to speak to anyone associated with the government, such as people who are undocumented.
Cerniglia said it is very important that these people be counted because they use the schools and the hospitals. Census workers will have identification indicating they are enumerators collecting data for the 2010 census, though they will not have photo IDs. Cerniglia said that would have been impossible to accomplish for each of the roughly one million census workers nationwide.
The information gathered by the Census Bureau is strictly confidential, he said, and the bureau does not share the information with any commercial entity or other government agency.
April 1, 2010 is Census Day, and all forms are to be returned by that date. Once it is determined who has not responded to the census, then the enumerators will be sent out to gather the information. Their term of employment is determined by the percentage of forms returned. They will begin in May and could work into mid-July in some areas.
In 2000 Atlantic County had a 60 percent return rate, according to Monica Davis, Philadelphia region media specialist. Cumberland County’s return rate was 68 percent, and Cape May’s was 37 percent. To learn more about the 2010 census see www.2010census.gov.
To comment on this story email marino@catamaranmedia.com
