Thank you for posting this information. Lori C. ----- Original Message ----- From: Chela Robles To: "Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2010 6:11 PM Subject: [bookshare-discuss] The 2010 Census I posted a note on a social networking site called Facebook and have re-posted this for your information so please read on. Census 2010 Taken from the BTBL, (Braille and Talking Book Library), News Newsletter Background: »2010 Census Explained 2010 Census Explained About California Census 2010 The Big Count Every 10 years since 1790, the U.S. Census has conducted a nationwide count of every resident in the United States. The U.S. Census is required by the Constitution, and serves as an important tool for allocating resources across the United States. The 2010 Census will help communities receive over $400 billion in federal funding each year for things like hospitals, schools, job training centers, senior centers, emergency services, and public works projects. The data collected by the census also helps determine the number of seats California has in the U.S. House of Representatives. For the first time in the 160 year history, California may lose an existing congressional seat if we do not have a complete count in 2010. Be Counted! In March of 2010, census forms will be delivered to every residence in the United States and Puerto Rico. When you receive yours, just answer the 10 short questions and then mail the form back in the postage-paid envelope provided. April 1, 2010, is Census Day. The U.S. Census Bureau will send reminder postcard and a replacement questionnaire if you have not sent in the original form. The U.S. Census Bureau will send out census takers to go door-to-door and fill-in questionnaires for households that did not respond. If you don't mail the form back, you may receive a visit from a census taker. California's Role The State of California is partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau to organize and implement the decennial census outreach effort. Working together, California's goal will be to have a complete count of California residents on April 1, 2010. In an effort to support the Census Bureau, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger created the California Complete Count Committee. The California Complete Count effort will ensure that Californians get their fair share of federal resources and Congressional representation by encouraging the full participation of all Californians in Census 2010. The Census 2010 questionnaire is going to be mailed to all California residents in mid-March. With only 10 questions, it's going to be the shortest one in history. The Census is safe,easy, and important. Your personal information cannot be shared with anyone or used against you. Census data is used to determine congressional seating, and California is in danger of losing a seat for the first time in its 160 year history. That makes your participation especially important this year. Numbers from the Census are also used to determine how over $400 billion in annual federal funding is divided between the states. This money is used for hospitals,designing facilities for people with disabilities, building schools and transportation infrastructure, creating job training centers, and many other important services. Braille versions of the form are available. For assistance, call 1-866-872-6868 (after 2/25/2010). The lines will be open from 8 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week. If you would prefer a Spanish speaking operator, call 1-866-928-2010. And if you would like to contact California Complete Count, the state's Census reach, call 1-916-327-1000 or visit their website at http://www.californiacompletecount.org Here is the run-down of the structure of the 2010 Census questionnaire below. Structure of Questionnaire Just 10 Minutes Census 2010 will be one of the fastest to complete in census history. Starting with the Census 2010, residents will only be required to complete a ten question short form instead of either a short or long form. The questions will relate to name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, relationship and housing tenure. In the past, the long format captured detailed socioeconomic information; however, that information will now be collected annually through the American Community Survey. The Decennial Census vs. the American Community Survey (ACS) The American Community Survey, sometimes referred to as the ACS, is a nationwide survey that collects essentially the same information on people and housing that was collected on the long-form questionnaire used in Census 2000. The American Community Survey is a continuous survey, in which each month a sample of housing unit addresses receives a questionnaire. About three million addresses are surveyed each year. The frequency of collection will be random within the next ten years, pulling from a rotating sample of the population. The 2010 decennial census is conducted once every 10 years. Unlike the ACS, the information collected during the decennial census will help communities receive over $400 billion in federal funding each year for things like hospitals, schools, job training centers, senior centers, emergency services, and public works projects. Also, the data collected by the census will help determine the number of seats your state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. Language Assistance For the first time in the history of the Decennial Census, over 13 million questionnaires will be printed with both English and Spanish on the same form. In addition, the questionnaire will also be printed in 5 additional languages: Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese. For anyone that speaks another language or has trouble filling out a questionnaire due to a disability, there will be 59 Language Assistant Guides available and one-on-one help at Questionnaire Assistance Centers. Census Bureau workers, hired from the local community, will be on-hand to help at those locations and can nationally assist in over 100 different languages. Here is a sample of what the questionnaire will look like. Sample Questionnaire Question 1: How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on May 1, 2008? Question 2: Were there any additional people staying here May 1, 2008 that you did not include in Question 1? Mark all that apply Question 3: Is this house, apartment, or mobile home? Mark ONE box. Question 4: What is your telephone number? We may call if we don't understand an answer. Question 5: Please provide information for each person living here. Start with a person living here who owns or rents this house, apartment, or mobile home. If the owner or renter lives somewhere else, start with any adult living here. This will be Person 1. What is Person 1's name? Question 6: What is Person 1's sex? Mark ONE box. Question 7: What is Person 1's age and what is Person 1's date of birth? Please report babies as age 0 when the child is less than 1 year old. NOTE: Please answer BOTH Question 8 about Hispanic origin and Question 9 about race. For this census, Hispanic origins are not races. Question 8: Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin? No, not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin Yes, Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano Yes, Puerto Rican Yes, Cuban Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin - Print origin, for example, Argentinean, Colombian, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Spaniard, and so on. Question 9: What is Person 1's race? Mark one or more boxes. Question 10: Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else? (If more people were counted in Question 1, continue with Person 2) To view an interactive questionnaire and learn about each question, visit the Census Bureau's new 2010 Census Web site at http://www.2010.census.gov/2010census/how/interactive-form.php PLEASE, MY FELLOW CALIFORNIANS, GET READY TO TAKE IMPORTANT ACTION COME MID-MARCH, ALONG WITH ME AND PASS THIS AROUND TO ALL THE CALIFORNIANS YOU KNOW, TELLING THEM THAT THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT! THANK YOU! -------------------- "To me, music that breaks your heart is the music that stays with you forever. It's one thing to be melancholy and one thing to be sophisticated, but when you get the two of them together in a way people can relate to, then I think you're on to something. You want the sophistication to lie in the purity of the sound, the beauty of the arrangements, and the quality of the performances."-Trumpeter Chris Botti---- -------------------- Chela Robles E-Mail: cdrobles693@xxxxxxxxx