National census efforts start this week

The U.S. Census Bureau launched its campaign this week, telling communities if they want their fare share of federal dollars, fill out and return the forms.

"Ten questions in ten minutes to define who we are as a nation," is the motto of the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau, which started this week to make contact with every household in America.

The 2010 Census is a count of everyone living in the United States and is mandated by the U.S. Constitution, said the U.S. Census Bureau.

Census data are used to apportion congressional seats for states, to distribute more than $400 billion in federal funds to tribal, state and local governments each year and to make decisions about what community services to provide.

"Your response is important. Results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair share of government funds for highways, schools, health facilities, and many other programs you and your neighbors need. Without a complete, accurate census, your community may not receive its fair share," an advance letter sent out by the Census Bureau states.

The 2010 Census form is one of the shortest in U.S. history, consisting of 10 questions, taking about 10 minutes to complete and strict confidentiality laws protect the respondents and the information they provide, according to the Bureau.

On the census questionnaire people will be asked to answer questions such as, "How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?"

On Monday the U.S. Census Bureau began sending 120 million census advance letter to households nationwide to inform the public census forms will be arriving next week.

The one-page letter urges households to complete the 10-question census form when it arrives and to return it in the accompanying prepaid envelope as soon as possible, said the Bureau.

"The advance letter helps people know that their 2010 Census form will be arriving soon," said Census Bureau Director Robert M. Groves in a press release. "It's an important reminder about the impact the census has on our communities, that the census is important and that everyone needs to participate."

The advance letter includes messaging in five languages other than English, including Spanish, directing people to visit the 2010 Web site for in-language assistance. For the first time in U.S. census history, the Census Bureau is sending a bilingual advance letter and form to more than 13 million households in areas where Spanish is predominantly spoken at home.

In addition to the census form being mailed to households, census takers will begin going door to door to follow up with households that did not mail back the form.

For every 1 percent increase in households that respond by mail, taxpayers save about $85 million in operational costs associated with census takers going door to door, according to the bureau.

The more than 120 million households that receive both the advance letter and 2010 Census form by mail represent about 90 percent of all residential addresses in the country. Census workers last week started hand-delivering census forms to another 9 percent of addresses in areas where many households lack traditional city-style postal addresses.

The census is taken every decade. The last was in 2000, when 72 percent of the country's population participated. In California, 73 percent participated, and Tehama County matched the state at 73 percent, as did Corning, according to the bureau.