Commissioners hear from Census Center

By NATALIA JONES

Every 10 years, the U.S. Constitution requires a national census, Pat McCoy, partnership specialist for the Dallas Regional Census Center, said during a special Commissioners Court Meeting Tuesday.

Those in attendance included commissioners, Cooke County Judge Bill Freeman and Cooke County city representatives including: Callisburg Mayor Frances West, Callisburg City Secretary Vanessa Price, Lindsay City Secretary Betsey Feitman and Oak Ridge City Secretary Darlene Nelson.

According to a press release McCoy passed out during the meeting, the U.S. Census is “an effort to count every person living in the United States.”

However, the 2010 Census poses more obstacles to getting an accurate count for each individual living in our country than the 2000 Census, said McCoy.

“The environments for the 2000 Census and the 2010 Census are different,” said McCoy. “We didn’t worry about our private information in 2000...but it’s going to be more difficult this (time) for us to ensure that people realize that privacy is something the Census Bureau wants to protect.”

Other obstacles, added McCoy, include our nation’s ever-changing political environment, hyper-chard immigration debate and growing diversity.

“These are changes our nation is going through, but if you look back to the old census, you’ll see that we can change and we continue on but it’s a still a problem that we’ve got,” said McCoy.

Infact, said McCoy, the core message of the 2010 Census is, “that it’s easy, it’s safe and it’s important.”

Unlike the 2000 Census which included a long questionnaire form, the 2010 Census will have one of the shortest census questionnaires in the history of the United States, stated a U.S. Census Bureau press release.

The 2010 Census will only ask the name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship and whether the householder owns or rents their home, and is expected to only take 10 minutes to complete.

As far as individuals’ privacy is concerned, McCoy said that the personal information which is collected during the census is protected by item 19 of the U.S. Code and cannot be released for 72 years.

Participation in the census is critical, stated a U.S. Census Bureau press release, because “the results determine how Congress is apportioned and how more than $300 billion in federal funds are distributed annually to state, local and tribal areas.”

Although the 2010 Census will create more than half a million temporary jobs, it still will need local volunteers to help ensure everyone in the area is counted.

McCoy’s purpose in his meeting was to ask both commissioners and city representatives to help form a Complete Count Committee.

“Complete Count Committees are volunteer teams consisting of community leaders, faith-based groups, schools, businesses, media outlets and others who are appointed by elected officials and work together to make sure entire communities are counted,” stated a U.S. Census Bureau press release.

During the 2000 Census, Cooke County received a 67 percent initial response rate. In other words, 67 percent of the county completed their census questionnaire.

Hopefully, said McCoy, by having a Complete Count Committee in Cooke County, volunteers will be able to help increase that percentage by reaching hard to count individuals like lower income families, head-of-household mothers who are often too busy to participate and those who have P.O. boxes.

“The benefits of a Complete Count Committee are that you guys speak the language and know the culture of your community,” said McCoy. “We don’t. Someone local is someone that people trust more and will listen to.”

Laura Blanton, Cooke County environmental control officer, was also present at the meeting and took names and contact information of all city representatives present to begin to plan and form Complete Count Committees for Cooke County.

To learn more about the 2010 Census and Complete Count Committees, please visit www.census.gov.