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The 2010 Census is Coming...and Foundations Can Help.

Next year the forms for the 2010 Census will arrive in mailboxes across the nation and an army of census enumerators will be knocking on doors, fulfilling a constitutional mandate requiring that every ten years everyone in the U.S. is counted. Foundations can, and should, play an important role in ensuring that there is a full and accurate census in their communities.

The numbers collected by this undertaking are among the most important collected in the nation. These numbers will be used to apportion the seats in the House of Representatives among the states, and redistrict all state legislatures, county and municipal elected officials. This is a massive reallocation of political power with a decade-long impact.

Just as important as the reallocation of political power, the 2010 census data will be used to allocate approximately $300 billion a year in federal assistance and billions of additional state dollars for local health, education and transportation programs. In addition, local governments also rely upon an accurate census count in planning for schools, roads, and the provision of medical services. For these and other reasons, it is important for every city and town to ensure that everyone in their community gets counted regardless of their sex, age, race, ethnicity, citizenship, or immigration status.

The Census Bureau bears the principal responsibility for the accuracy of the census, but it relies upon the support of more than one hundred thousand partnering organizations. In 2009, the Census Bureau will be forming and working with thousands of “complete count committees” set up by state and local officials and these partnering organizations. While the Census Bureau provides printed materials and other support to these committees, it does not provide cash assistance.

That’s where foundations can help. They can begin by formally joining the Census Bureau’s Partnership Program, but they can also provide small grants to the complete count committees or other local groups working on the census in their communities. Small grants can help can enable these committees or organizations to hire the organizers and support staff needed to mount a successful community outreach effort, or pay for other project related costs.

The census has always served to define who we are as a nation, and, as the Census Bureau’s website reminds us this year, “It’s in our hands.”

Making the 2010 Census Count:

A Quick Guide for Foundations

Local and community foundations can play a vital role in promoting a full and accurate census count in the communities they serve.

The 2010 Census: The Basic Facts

The decennial census is a count of everyone residing in the United States: in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas. The first Census was conducted in 1790 and has been carried out every 10 years since then. All residents of the United States must be counted. This includes people of all ages, races, ethnic groups, citizens and non-citizens. Census questionnaires will be mailed or delivered to every household in the United States in March 2010.

The questions ask you to provide information that is accurate for your household as of April 1, 2010. The 2010 Census questionnaire asks only a few simple questions of each person—name, relationship, gender, age and date of birth, race, and whether the respondent owns or rents his or her home. This simple, short questionnaire takes just a few minutes to complete and return by mail. Census takers visit households that do not return a questionnaire by mail.

The U.S. Census Bureau does not release or share information that identifies individual respondents or their household for 72 years. Every Census Bureau worker takes an oath for life to protect the confidentiality of census responses. Violation would result in a jail term of up to five years and/or fine of up to $250,000. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share an individual’s answers with anyone, including welfare and immigration agencies.

The Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U.S. President by December 31, 2010.

Why the 2010 Census is Important

Getting a full and accurate census count is important to every community. Here’s why:

Census affects funding in your community
Census data directly affect how more than $300 billion per year in federal and state funding is allocated to communities for neighborhood improvements, public health, education, transportation and much more. That's more than $3 trillion over a 10-year period.
Census affects your voice in Congress
Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the census is also used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and redistrict state legislatures.
Census affects your representation in state and local government
Census data are used to define legislature districts, school district assignment areas and other important functional areas of government.
Census informs your community's decisions
The census is like a snapshot that helps define who we are as a nation. Data about changes in your community are crucial to many planning decisions, such as where to provide services for the elderly, where to build new roads and schools, or where to locate job training centers.

Counting the Hard-to-Count

Certain individuals are harder to count and consequently at higher risk of being overlooked. Those most at risk of being undercounted include young children in low-income houses, minorities, recent immigrants, the homeless, renters, and persons living in large households. Many of those who are “hard-to-count” are located in large urban areas or in poorer sections of rural America.

In preparation for the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau has prepared a tract level planning database with data from the 2000 Census. Included in this database are “hard-to-count” (HTC) scores for each census tract. HTC scores, which can range from 0 to 132, rank the attributes of each tract in terms of enumeration difficulty and are based on 12 variables. The planning database and supporting documentation can be downloaded from the 2010 Census site.

How Local Organizations and Community Leaders Can Help

In an effort to get everyone counted, the Census Bureau works in partnership with over one hundred thousand organization and community leaders. At the local level, the Census Bureau's Partnership Program works with elected officials, educators, businesses, faith-based groups, and various community and social service organizations. Every ten years, the Census Bureau forms thousands of “complete count committees” that operate at the neighborhood and community levels. Organizations and community leaders:

· Recruit census workers;

· Display and distribute census materials;

· Provide space for testing and training census employees;

· Sponsor community events to promote the census;

· Include information about the census in newsletters and mailings; and

· Enlist the support of other organizations and community leaders.

More information about the Partnership and what groups can do to support the Census is available on the Census Bureau’s website.

How Local and Community Foundations Can Assist

While the Census Bureau’s Partnership Program provides free promotional materials to partnering organizations and the “complete count committees” that are operating at the neighborhood and community levels, the Census Bureau does not provide any cash assistance to these groups. Even small amounts of financial support from local and community foundations can make a critical difference. Small grants to an organization or committee (or its fiscal sponsor) can enable these organizations to hire the organizers and support staff needed to mount a successful community outreach effort, or pay for other project related costs.

Foundations interested in supporting census activities in their communities should begin planning now. The regional offices of the Census Bureau are already setting up local offices and forming “complete count committees.” Next year, in 2009, local organizations and the “complete count committees” will begin building census awareness in their communities.

Foundations interested in supporting census activities in their community are encouraged to contact the regional office of the Census Bureau for help in identifying the organizations and “complete count committees” that are supporting the census in their community.