The U.S. Census Bureau will launch the Non-Response Follow-Up (NRFU) operations next month – where census takers will collect information from households that did not return their census forms. Thousands of local residents have been hired as census takers to complete this important task.
The US Census Bureau reported that the nation's mail participation rate this year as 72 percent, which tied the 2000 participation rate.
California's mail participation rate for this year was 71 percent, down from 2000's rate of 73 percent.
Lake County's rate this year was 60 percent, an improvement over its 54-percent rate in 2000. The cities of Clearlake and Lakeport registered 60 percent and 73 percent response rates, respectively.
“The Non-Response Follow-Up operation plays a vital role in helping achieve an accurate 2010 Census count and determine the allocation of federal funds for community services,” said Seattle Regional Director Ralph Lee. “We ask that you cooperate with census takers should they contact you. It’s easy, important and safe. Information collected by census takers cannot be shared with any other government agency; they’ve taken a lifetime oath to not reveal any data.”
Mike Burns, deputy regional director for the Seattle Regional Census Center, will provide more details outlining the large-scale effort to count every person at in San Francisco May 3.
In most cases, census workers will make initial visits during afternoons, early evenings and weekends. Workers will identify themselves with a census ID badge that contains a Department of Commerce watermark.
The census taker may also be carrying a bag with a Census Bureau logo. Census workers will not ask for citizenship status, Social Security numbers, credit card or banking information.
If asked, he or she will provide supervisor contact information and/or the Local Census Office phone number for verification. If census workers are unable to reach a household member in-person, they will also attempt contact by phone to conduct the interview with the household member.
The Census Bureau began monitoring mail response rates since March 17, 2010, to estimate the local NRFU workload. Recruitment and training for NRFU operations began in November 2009.
An estimated 635,000 census takers will be deployed around the nation for this operations, with more than 19,000 in Northern California. The Census Bureau’s Northern California region stretches from Santa Cruz County, to the south, and the Oregon border, to the north.
The NRFU operations are scheduled to be completed by July 10.
Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the census takes place every 10 years. Census data determine boundaries for state and local legislative and congressional districts.
More than $400 billion in federal funds are distributed annually based on census data to pay for local programs and services, such as schools, highways, vocational training, emergency services, hospitals and much more.
Learn more about the 2010 Census at www.2010census.gov.
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