The 2010 Census is being promoted with a simple message: 10 questions in 10 minutes.
Unfortunately, history shows that it’s just not that simple to convince folks to take those 10 minutes, even when they’re told that each uncounted resident could cost North Carolina about $1,000 each in potential federal funding.
That’s why I’ve joined a group of legislators, educators and community leaders to reach out to our citizens in a series of Complete Count Census Forums. This week we gathered in Robeson County, and we’ll hold additional meetings in other historically undercounted areas.
My message focuses on what citizens give up by ignoring this essential count. Those who choose to not participate in the Census impact entitlement to programs designed to benefit their communities. In other words, miscounting the population could unconstitutionally deny minority groups’ political representation or protection under the Voting Rights Act. It also could deny local jurisdictions grant funds from federal programs.
The Census Bureau has taken steps to simplify the form, increase local resources and hire multilingual census takers who can reach out to hard-to-count population groups, reducing the inherent delays and costs in making multiple callbacks to non-responding households.
This endeavor also creates quality job opportunities for North Carolinians, whose hard work will result in a more accurate count of our residents and fair-share funding for necessary programs. I encourage everyone to get involved and get counted. It truly matters – not just today, but for how we grow and prosper over the next 10 years.