Why Should I Fill Out My Census Form?
The Census affects us all!
The Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U.S. President by December 31, 2010. The first Census was conducted in 1790 and has been carried out every 10 years since.
Congress uses census data to allocate funds under various federal grant programs to state governments. Many state-funded grant programs also rely on census data. Because the annual population estimates use the decennial census counts as a base, if a community's population is under-counted in the decennial census, these funds get misallocated for an entire decade.
The Federal government uses Census date to allocate some $400 billion in funds for a wide variety of programs including but not limited to:
- Public Transportation
- Programs for the elderly
- Emergency Food and Shelter
- Road Rehabilitation and Construction
- Developing adult education programs
- Woman, Infant, and Children (WIC food grants)
- Directing funds for services for people in poverty
- Drawing federal, state, and local legislative districts
- Title I grants to Educational Agencies Head Start Programs
- Estimating number of people displaced by natural disasters
- Designing facilities for people with disabilities, the elderly, and/or children
- Planning hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, and other health services
- Determining areas eligible for housing assistance and rehabilitation loans
- Directing services to children and adults with limited English language proficiency
- Providing evidence in litigation involving land use, voting rights, and equal opportunity
- Creating maps to speed emergency services to households in need of assistance
It is imperative that our community start this new year off right by participating in the 2010 Census. By making each resident aware of the importance of an accurate Census count and its impact on the overall well-being of each person, we all benefit.