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Do You Count? Be Ready for the 2010 Census

By Putnam Barber, editor of The Nonprofit FAQ.


From Flickr user Marcin Wichary Any day now, an envelope from the United States Census will show up at most addresses in the United States. It will probably be in the mailbox, but it might come from someone who knocks on the door and hands it to you. In fact, the Census Bureau expects to deliver 12 million census forms to people who might be difficult to reach by mail.

Taking the Census is required by the U.S. Constitution, necessary for settling the number of Congressional Districts in each state, and the basis for countless program decisions made by federal agencies, state and local governments, and all sorts of statistics-hungry businesses.

In previous years, some people got “long forms” that asked for all sorts of details about their houses, their commuting patterns, and goodness knows what-all else. This year, all the forms are the same. They have just 10 questions and should take just 10 minutes to complete. The goal is to count every single person who lives in the U.S. at the beginning of April 2010. Every single one.

Including you. And, maybe more importantly, all of your neighbors.

The Census Bureau is energetically trying to get a complete response. Going door to door, handing out the forms and reminding people to send them in is one—pretty traditional—idea. Having an online contest to see which communities are getting the highest response rates is a less traditional approach. You can check where your area stands by logging on to this map.

If you have a chance to get the word out to program participants, neighborhood groups, or anyone else who might be missed in the count, you may want to download the electronic toolkit the Census Bureau offers online. Posters, flyers, talking points and detailed explanations all could be helpful in making sure no one is missed.

As far as this once-a-decade enumeration is concerned, you and your neighbors only count if you’re counted.