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Census Bureau Submits to Congress Proposed Recovery Plan to Help Create Jobs and Conduct a Successful 2010 Census


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The U.S. Census Bureau submitted to Congress its proposed recovery plan to create jobs, strengthen the economy and conduct a successful 2010 Census. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Census Bureau was provided $1 billion.

“The Census Bureau’s proposed investments will improve our ability to conduct an accurate census and will create thousands of good-paying jobs,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. “A successful census is critical for ensuring that communities have proper representation and the resources needed for health care, law enforcement and education.”

Under the proposal, the Census Bureau will invest $250 million in partnership and outreach efforts to minority communities and hard-to-reach populations. This effort is intended to promote participation in the census, which will improve accuracy and facilitate enumeration operations in 2010.

The remaining $750 million will be committed to support early 2010 Census operations that will reduce operational and programmatic risks at a critical stage of the census process.

More than $300 billion in federal funds are distributed every year based on census results. This funding supports vital local services like health care, schools, law enforcement, transportation and social services.

Some Census Recovery Plan highlights:

* Coverage Follow-Up Enhancement ($30 million):

The Coverage Follow-Up program provides telephone interviewers to contact households that may have erred on the census form by indicating the wrong number of people living in their household. The recovery act investment will allow for the hiring of additional temporary telephone interviewers who will work from commercial call centers. The Recovery Act funding will complement Coverage Follow-Up funding that will be included in the President’s 2010 Budget.

* Partnership Program Enhancement ($120 million):

Enhancing the 2010 partnership program will increase partnerships in hard-to-count communities and expand efforts to reduce historical undercounts of communities least likely to be counted. The partnership program relies on trusted local voices to raise awareness of and trust in the census process. These funds will finance the hiring of additional partnership staff. The regional staff will be hired by July 2009 and conclude their work during the summer of 2010.

* Public Outreach ($100 million):

Public outreach will help to raise awareness of and educate residents about the 2010 Census and the importance of their response. A major focus of the increased outreach will be in areas that have historically lower than average initial response rates. This funding will support local and national outreach initiatives and also will support various partnerships and the Census in Schools program.

* Group Quarters Operations ($138 million):

The Group Quarters (GQ) operation supports efforts to access and count residents in dormitories, prisons, nursing homes and other group living situations. These operations include an early validation of the bureau’s list of group quarters, an advance visit to prepare GQ facilities for census day and finally enumeration of all group quarters.

* Update Leave ($116 million):

The Group Quarters (GQ) operation supports efforts to access and count residents in dormitories, prisons, nursing homes and other group living situations. These operations include an early validation of the bureau’s list of group quarters, an advance visit to prepare GQ facilities for census day and finally enumeration of all group quarters. During the operation, enumerators canvass the blocks in their assignment areas, update the address list and Census maps, determine if the housing unit is a duplicate or does not exist and needs to be deleted, and delivers addressed census questionnaires to each unit. All housing units in U/L areas for which census does not receive a completed questionnaire by mail must be visited during Non-Response Follow-Up (NRFU).

* Update/Enumerate ($108 million):

The Update/Enumerate (U/E) operation is a method of data collection conducted in communities where many housing units may not have house number and street name mailing addresses. This method will be used on American Indian reservations, colonias (usually rural Spanish-speaking communities) and resort areas with high concentrations of seasonally vacant living quarters. The U/E enumerators canvass assignment areas to update residential addresses, including adding living quarters that were not included on the address listing pages, update Census Bureau maps and complete a questionnaire for each housing unit during the same visit.

* Local Census Office Staffing Operation ($388 million):

The Local Census Office (LCO) Staffing Operation supports the major 2010 Census field operations. The LCO Staffing Operation recruits, hires and releases office and field staff; performs supervisory and non-supervisory functions for office activities and field operations; distributes training and procedural manuals for office staff; and trains employees and office staff for the field operations performed at the LCO. The LCO also manages and troubleshoots field and office automation systems and problems and incorporates Quality Assurance into all its activities.

For more information about the Census Bureau ARRA Proposed Recovery Plan, visit: www.commerce.gov/Recovery/



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