2010 CENSUS: Parish officials seek full count in Iberville

Municipal officials from around Iberville Parish met recently at Plaquemine City Hall to discuss ways to increase community awareness of the upcoming 2010 Census.

They met with U.S. Census 2010 Partnership Specialist Lorita Frank of the Dallas Regional Census Center.

The census questionnaire will be a short form consisting of only 10 questions, requiring about 10 minutes to complete.  This will be one of the shortest surveys in census history, according to U.S. Census Bureau.

Last month, the Census Bureau began sending out address canvassers as a part of early operations to identify all housing units and other living quarters. Canvassers will be out in neighborhoods until mid-June. 

The official census day is April 1, 2010.  Census questionnaires will be mailed out March 2010.  In May 2010, temporary Census workers will contact residents who did not fill out and return their questionnaires.

The primary goal of the 10-year census is to determine population and to provide demographic data such as age, gender and ethnicity. 

The information is used for reapportionment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Also, state and local government use the totals to redraw the lines of legislative and other political districts. 

The data also is used to determine how more than $300 billion in federal funds distributed annually to state and local governments for such things as roads, schools, social services and training centers. 

The information also is used to determine the need for additional social services, block grants and other grant programs essential to many communities, such as justifying the need for as after-school program or designating revitalization areas.

The U.S. Constitution mandates such headcount every 10 years in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas.  The cost of the 2010 census will be $6.6 billion, double the cost of the 2000 Census. In 1790, when the first census was conducted, the cost was a penny a head.  Today, it is $35 a head.

The 2010 Census will be of consequence to Louisiana, which faces the loss of a seat in Congress because of population loss.

Individual census information provided is protected under a federal privacy act. Census employees are barred from asking for bank or social security information.  The Census Bureau does not allow photographs of its field operation as part of its confidentiality policy.

The census data is mandated to be on President Obama’s desk by no later than December 31, 2010, and the census results will be released to the public in stages in Year 2011.

Further information is available at www.census.gov