2010 Census Fraud Awareness

The 2010 Census

The 2010 Census is underway and you may be wondering about whom you can trust. The Census is easy, important, and safe – just fill out your form and mail it back.
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. If you don’t mail the form back, you may receive a visit from a census taker, who will ask you the questions from the form. A census taker must follow-up in person with every address that doesn’t mail back the form in order to obtain the responses.

The Census is Safe
• The 2010 Census will ask for name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship, and whether you own or rent your home – just 10 simple questions that will take about 10 minutes to answer.
• The Census Bureau safeguards all census responses to the highest security standards available.
• Your answers are protected by law and are not shared with anyone. The census taker who collects your information is sworn for life to protect your data under Federal Law Title 13. Those who violate the oath face criminal penalties. Under federal law, the penalty for unlawful disclosure is a fine of up to $250,000 or imprisonment for up to 5 years, or both.

When Census Takers will be Going Door-to-Door
• From April to July 2010, we will knock on the door of every household that does not mail back a completed 2010 Census form.
• It’s critical that you take just 10 minutes to fill out and mail back your form rather than wait for a census worker to show up on your doorstep. About $85 million in taxpayer dollars are saved for every one percent increase in mail response.
• The Census Bureau must get a census form to – and a completed form back from – every residence in the United States. That’s more than 130 million addresses. This is why the census is the largest domestic mobilization our nation undertakes.

How to Identify a Census Taker
• If a U.S. Census Bureau employee knocks on your door, here are some recognition tips to assure the validity of the employee:
o The census taker must present an ID badge that contains a Department of Commerce watermark and expiration date. The census taker may also be carrying a bag with a Census Bureau logo.
o The census taker will provide you with supervisor contact information and/or the Local Census Office phone number for verification, if asked.
o The census taker will ONLY ask you the questions that appear on the census form.

What the 2010 Census DOES NOT Ask
• 2010 Census takers will not ask you for your social security number, bank account number, or credit card number.
• 2010 Census takers also never solicit for donations and will never contact you by e-mail.
• 2010 Census takers will not ask about your citizenship status.


For more information about the upcoming 2010 Census visit 2010census.gov.


El Censo del 2010

El Censo del 2010 ya está en marcha y quizá usted se pregunte si es confidencial. El Censo es fácil, importante y seguro; sólo llene su cuestionario y envíelo por correo.
En marzo de 2010, el cuestionario del censo fue enviado a todas las personas que viven en Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico. Cuando reciba el suyo, conteste las diez sencillas preguntas y envíelo por correo en el sobre prepagado incluido. Si no lo devuelve, un empleado del censo lo visitará en su domicilio para hacerle en persona las preguntas del cuestionario. Los empleados del censo deben dar seguimiento en persona a cada dirección que no devolvió por correo el cuestionario para poder obtener así las respuestas a este.

El censo es seguro
• El Censo del 2010 solamente pregunta su nombre, sexo, edad, raza, origen hispano, si es usted dueño o alquila la propiedad. Son sólo 10 sencillas preguntas que le tomará responder alrededor de 10 minutos.
• La Oficina del Censo salvaguarda todas las respuestas al censo utilizando los más altos estándares de seguridad disponibles.
• Sus respuestas están protegidas por ley y no son compartidas con nadie, ni siquiera con otras agencias del gobierno. Por ley federal, Título 13, cada empleado del Censo hace un juramento de por vida para proteger su información. Quien lo viola podría enfrentar, por ley federal, una multa de hasta $250,000 dólares, hasta 5 años de prisión o ambas penas.
•
¿Cuándo visitarán los empleados del Censo los domicilios?
• Entre abril y julio de 2010 estaremos visitando cada domicilio que no devolvió por correo el cuestionario del Censo del 2010.
• Es importante que tome 10 minutos para completar y devolver su cuestionario y evite así la molestia de que un empleado del censo lo visite en su hogar. Además, por cada punto porcentual (1%) de aumento a nivel nacional en el índice de devolución de los cuestionarios por correo, los contribuyentes podrán ahorrar alrededor de $85 millones de dólares en fondos federales. La Oficina del Censo debe obtener las respuestas al censo de todas las personas que vivan en Estados Unidos. Esto significa más de 130 millones de direcciones. Es por esto que, el censo es la movilización nacional más grande que nuestra nación lleva a cabo.

¿Cómo identificar a un empleado de la Oficina del Censo?
• Si alguien toca a su puerta y dice ser un empleado de la Oficina del Censo, estas son las maneras en que podrá usted verificar si en verdad lo es, o si es un impostor:
o El empleado del censo deberá mostrarle una identificación que contiene el logotipo del Departamento del Comercio y la fecha de expiración. También llevará consigo una bolsa con el logotipo de la Oficina del Censo.
o Para propósitos de verificación, si usted se lo pide, el empleado del censo le proveerá información sobre su supervisor (nombre) y/o el teléfono de la oficina local del Censo.
o Los enumeradores del censo le harán únicamente las preguntas que aparecen en el cuestionario.

¿Qué no se pregunta en el cuestionario del Censo del 2010?
• Los empleados del Censo no le preguntarán su número de seguro social, cuenta de banco o tarjeta de crédito.
• Los empleados del Censo nunca le pedirán donaciones y nunca lo contactarán por correo electrónico.
• Los empleados del Censo no preguntarán acerca de su estatus migratorio o el de su familia o allegados.

Para más información acerca del Censo del 2010 visite, 2010census.gov/espanol.

Early Tax Filers

(Thanks, Dale!)

The Bulk of Shopping...

still takes place in-store, according to our friends at the Census Bureau.

TIME magazine and the Census race questions

Why the U.S. Census Misreads Hispanic and Arab Americans

The gist of the argument: "The Hispanic-origins and race sections should be combined into one, less confusing section that asks folks what ethnic and/or racial group they belong to: white, black, Native American, Asian, Pacific Islander or Hispanic. It should (as it already does for some groups on the form) provide space for designating subgroups - like Arabs, for example."

as though race and ethnicity were ever simple in America.

In case you hadn't heard about the Census...

March 2010
Dear New Yorker,

Census forms have arrived at your address, and I am writing to remind you to take 10 minutes to fill-out the 10 questions for each person living in your home, and mail it back today.

The Census is safe and confidential. By law, no one other than the Census Bureau staff is allowed to see your questionnaire for 72 years – not even the President. As you know, the census is a count of every person, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, living in the United States and its territories. It is required by the United States Constitution and is the foundation of our representative democracy.

The Census is important. Census data will be used to determine everything from how many representatives you get in our political system to how much money our State will receive from the federal government for essential services like education, affordable housing, and health care.

The Census is easy. I am asking all New Yorkers to fill out the census form for each person living in your home and mail it back today. If the Census Bureau does not receive your form, the Census Bureau workers will complete the count by knocking on the doors of households that did not return a census form.

If you need help completing your questionnaire, Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QACs) have been set up at community organizations and businesses throughout the state to make sure you have the necessary resources to complete your census form, including a staff person to answer census-related questions, language assistance, and Be Counted forms if you have misplaced or lost the original questionnaire. For information in English call 1-866-872-6868 or for help in the following languages call: Spanish: 1-866-928-2010; Chinese: 1-866-935-2010; Korean: 1-866-955-2010; Russian: 1-866-965-2010; Vietnamese: 1-866-945-2010. The TDD telephone number for assistance is 1-866-783-2010.

Please visit www.census2010.ny.gov to get up-to-date information on Census 2010 in New York State. You are New York, Make Yourself Count! Mail back your form TODAY!

Best,


David A. Paterson
Governor of New York State

Loving the DMV

Good source of info (noted by a colleague).

www.nysdmv.com

•In the yellow bar at the top, click on “online-transactions”
•Then under “Online services” click on “DMV-Regulated Business Transactions”
•Click on “Find DMV-Regulated Businesses”
•In the middle of the page you can click on “Find DMV-Regulated Businesses Now”
•You can then choose from Public Vehicle Inspection Stations, Motor Vehicle Repair Shops, Dealers, or Businesses that Deal in Junk or Salvage Vehicles. At the bottom you can select by ZIP Code or County.
•Once you get to your selection, you can sort by clicking on the headings, e.g. by Facility Number, Facility Name, Street, City, ZIP or County.
•If you click on the Facility Number, you can get additional information, for example, if the facility is licensed both as a dealer and an inspection station.

On the DMV site you can also get the annual # of registered cars, commercial vehicles, etc. by county.

Nonfatal occupational injuries, illnesses: govt workers

Nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work for State government and local government workers, 2008
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

There were 277,680 occupational injuries and illnesses with days away from work reported for State and local government combined in 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fifty percent occurred in service occupations, including health care support and protective service workers. In contrast, 22 percent of the injuries and illnesses in private industry occurred in service occupations.

State government workers sustained occupational injuries and illnesses at an incidence rate of 170 cases per 10,000 full-time workers and required a median of 8 days away from work to recuperate. The incidence rate for local government workers was 195 and the median days away from work was 9. For comparison, the incidence rate for private industry was 113 cases per 10,000 full-time workers.

There were a total of 206,580 cases of days away from work in local government and 71,100 cases in State government. Sprains and strains comprised 43 percent of the injuries and illness in local government at an incidence rate of 83 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. For State government, sprains and strains comprised 39 percent of the cases at a rate of 67 per 10,000 full-time workers.

Statistics Explained, your guide to European statistics

Statistics Explained is an official Eurostat website presenting all possible statistical topics in an easily understandable way. Together, the articles make up everyone's encyclopedia of European statistics, completed by a statistical glossary clarifying all terms used and by numerous links to further information and the very latest data and metadata, a portal for occasional and regular users alike.

Statistics Explained currently features 762 articles.

History of the Census

Interesting mix of information here, including several useful links.

Loss of 1890 Census data to fire: a genealogist’s nightmare

Of the decennial population census schedules, perhaps none might have been more critical to studies of immigration, industrialization, westward migration, and characteristics of the general population than the Eleventh Census of the United States, taken in June 1890. United States residents completed millions of detailed questionnaires, yet only a fragment of the general population schedules and an incomplete set of special schedules enumerating Union veterans and widows are available today.

UAlbany's Census 2010 event

To the University at Albany Community:

UAlbany students are pledging to be counted in Census 2010 by dipping their hands in purple and gold paint and placing their handprints on the Lecture Center windows, starting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, March 23. I invite faculty and staff to add their handprints, as well. The handprints will be a reminder "It's in Our Hands," one of the key Census 2010 messages. The event will take place in the Lecture Center area downstairs from the University Library. It is all part of UAlbany's efforts, in partnership with census officials, to build awareness of the importance of being counted. Census staff will be on hand to answer questions and distribute information.

Each person counted is worth about $1,600 a year in federal funding to a region. U.S. Census data is used to determine funding for education, health care, transportation and other important services that affect our daily lives as members of the UAlbany community.

I appreciate everyone's efforts to make Census 2010 a success by completing your census forms and returning them.

Sincerely,

George M. Philip
President

Secretary Locke on Daily Show with Jon Stewart

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke appeared as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night on the cable channel Comedy Central.

The Secretary was on the show to raise awareness of the 2010 Census and encourage Americans to promptly mail their forms back. As a colleague noted, "Secretary Locke was on point about the importance of the census and reassuring about its safety and confidentiality."

The episode featuring the Secretary has been posted on The Daily Show's website, and will remain there today and through the weekend.

The Locke segments:
Part 1
Part 2

The whole show.

Article I, Section 2

In recognition today of the 259th birthday of James Madison, the principal writer of the Constitution and the fourth President of the United States, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves visited Montpelier — Madison's colonial home near Orange, Va. Groves stood in Madison's library, the very room that one of the Founding Fathers used to draft the Virginia Plan that became the Constitution.

As each U.S. household receives a 2010 Census form, every resident is encouraged to participate in a process that is as old as the nation itself. That process is the decennial census, mandated in Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, mainly written by James Madison, one of our nation's founders and our fourth president. U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves recently visited Madison's historic home, Montpelier, in Orange, Va., and stood in the room that was the library where Madison drafted the Virginia Plan that became the Constitution. Groves paused to reflect on his own obligation to participate in the 2010 Census and to "ensure that we get it right."

Please view and share this video with family, friends, neighbors, and networking community.

Updated Legislative Spending Posted on Internet

Office expenditures of individual state Senators and Assembly members for the six months ending September 30, 2009, the latest period for which data are available, have been posted in a searchable format on the Empire Center's government transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net.

The full text of this press release is available here.

Contact: Lise Bang-Jensen
518.434.3100

Begorrah, Return Your Census Forms!

Dr. Groves' Take 10 Message On YouTube

Census Bureau Director Robert Groves explains how people can view 2010 Census mail participation rates of their communities and compare them with the rates of other areas around the country.

Population of the Dead

We know that there are about 6.8 billion people on the Earth right now. But how many people have EVER lived on the planet? Here's a guesstimate from 2002, when the world had a mere 6.215 billion people.

(Thanks again, Dale.)

How the Census Counts Prisoners: Significant Political Stakes

From Citiwire.

If the facts in the story are accurate., e.g., if states can now choose how to count inmates, this would likely cause a problem if a prisoner is from one state and incarcerated in another. As a colleague noted: "They could then technically be counted in two states(or neither state) depending on how each state decides to handle this."

Universities play key role in the new economy

Universities and higher education systems across the country are taking leading roles in their states’ economic development efforts — and a report released today by the Rockefeller Institute of Government says this trend seems likely to strengthen as the nation moves into the era of an “innovation economy.” The study found that higher education’s increasingly important role builds on, but goes well beyond, the research strengths of universities — incorporating efforts as wide-ranging as job training, business consulting, housing rehabilitation and even securing seed money for new businesses.

The report, A New Paradigm for Economic Development, was written by David Shaffer, a senior fellow at the Institute, and David Wright, the Institute’s director of urban and metropolitan studies. It was conducted at the request of State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher, who has made economic revitalization a centerpiece of the strategic planning process she is conducting for the 64-campus system.
To read the report, see the Institute's Web site.

Census Confidentiality

When you fill out and mail back your 2010 Census form, your responses are safe and confidential.

Every Census Bureau employee must pass a background check before being hired and must swear under oath to protect the confidentiality of census responses. This is an oath for life. Any employee who reveals any personal census information is subject to severe penalties -- including a fine of up to $250,000, imprisonment of up to five years, or both.

By law, no other government agency, law enforcement agency, national security agency, court, or anyone else can access your responses -- not anyone for any reason.

No law overrides the confidentiality law that protects personal information collected by the Census Bureau, or can force the Census Bureau to share census responses.

The Justice Department recently confirmed that no provision of the Patriot Act overrides the confidentiality law that protects census responses.

The Department of Justice Letter is Below (click on it to make larger)