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The more than 600,000 Census enumerators are now knocking on doors of those residents that did not mail in their Census forms.  Most of the people they encounter will be people who just forgot or were too busy to fill the Census forms out.  There will still be challenges in minority communities where the local community may not be English proficient.  In preparation for this hurdle, many of the local communities and complete count committees have worked hard to inform the minority communities of Census enumerators.

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In 2000, Georgia returned 69% responses via mail.  In 2010, Georgia mail back response rate was 71%.  This is a bigger accomplishment than it may appear especially in times of decreasing responses to mail surveys, an increased population, including increased minority population, and a growing distrust of the government.  North Georgia counties had a higher overall response rate than counties in South Georgia.   The counties including metro-Atlanta are as appears below.

Cobb County:  72%

DeKalb County:  68%

Fulton County:  67%

Gwinnett County:  70%

For the full interactive map, please visit the 2010 Census Take 10 Map Website.

The final mail back response rates are in.   Nationally 72% of the U.S. residents mailed back their 2010 Census forms.  Georgia was one of the 28 states that exceeded their 2000 mail in rates.  The U.S. Census Bureau is proud of the results because of the decrease in survey responses in the last decade.

Now 635,000 census takers will travel all across the country to go door to door to obtain census responses from all remaining households. The temporary census workers are in training this week and will begin obtaining census responses this weekend. The Census Bureau is urging households to open their doors to their local census taker and will provide more information on this operation at a news briefing May 3.

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Now that all Qualified Assistance Centers and Be Counted Sites are closed, Census enumerators will start visiting homes that did not mail in their forms.

All census workers that come to your door will have a badge, a handheld device or computer to enter data, an official Census Bureau canvas bag, and a confidentiality notice.

Other things to look for:

• The Census Bureau does NOT conduct the 2010 Census via the Internet
• The Census Bureau does not send emails about participating in the 2010 Census
• The Census Bureau never:
  • Asks for your full social security number
  • Asks for money or a donation
  • Sends requests on behalf of a political party
  • Requests PIN codes, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial account

The census taker’s primary responsibility is to collect census information from residences. Most of these residences have not sent back their 2010 Census form.

• The Census Bureau provides the census taker with a binder containing all of the addresses that didn’t send back a filled out census form.
• The census taker then visits all of those addresses and records the answers to the questions on the form.
• If no one answers at a particular residence, a census taker will visit a home up to three times and attempt to reach the household by phone three times. The census worker will leave a double-sided (English and Spanish) NOTICE of VISIT in the doorway that includes a phone number for the resident to schedule an appointment.

The census taker will ONLY ask the questions that appear on the census form.

Please select HERE to see more a more complete list of what to look for and what to do if you receive questionable contact.

Census scams are naturally occurring as people try to obtain personal financial information from unsuspecting victims.

Phone scammers often start by being ultra-friendly and “official sounding” at the same time. They may say they’re calling to “verify” information the resident provided or to obtain more details. In fact, census workers rarely come back for more details.

If someone claims to be doing that, ask for their name, identity and request a government phone number to check the call’s legitimacy. (The real U.S. Census Bureau call center numbers are 301-763-4636 or 800-923-8282.)

Remember that the U.S. Census Bureau does not email you or as you any questions beyond what is on the form.

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The results are coming in.  According to the latest 2010 Census mail participation rates released today, the state of Georgia has now matched the rate it had achieved during the 2000 Census — 69 percent. Georgia is one of 19 states, in addition to Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, that have met or surpassed their rates from the 2000 Census.

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Today is the last day to mail in your forms before enumerators start knocking on your doors.  Even after today, however, you are still encouraged to mail in the Census forms if you haven’t done so already.  Your forms will still be counted!

As of now, Georgia’s response rate is 65% compared to the national average of 68%.  Please visit the Census website to keep track of the numbers.  http://2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map/

Please visit Fill In Our Future website for a database of in-language video PSAs.

April 17 and 18, 2010

Wat Lao Buddhamoongcoon
2325 Hillside Rd.
Riverdale, GA 30296

______________________________

April 24 and 25, 2010

Wat Lao Buddhakhanti
4052 Zoar Church Road
Snellville, GA 30039

______________________________

May 29 and May 30, 2010

Event: Royal Lao Classical Dancers Annual Festival
What: Traditional Dance Festival and Lao New Year Events
Start Time: Saturday, May 29 at 1:00pm
End Time: Sunday, May 30 at 10:00pm
Where: Lao Buddhist Temple of Nashville
www.rlcd.org

Armed with Census goodies comprised of Census bags, T-shirts, hats, brochures, magnetic calendars, stickers, and more, CPACS members and ACCC members visited the Chinese Cultural Center to aid the Chinese seniors with filling out their Census forms.  The approximately 85 Chinese seniors ate, danced, played ping-pong, received massages, and caught up with friends during the event.

Telephone Questionnaire Assistance (TQA)

• ENGLISH – 1-866-872-6868
• Chinese: 1-866-935-2010
• Korean: 1-866-955-2010
• Russian: 1-866-965-2010
• Spanish: 1-866-928-2010
• Vietnamese: 1-866-945-2010
• TDD (Telephone Display Device for the hearing impaired):1-866-783-2010
• Puerto Rico (in English): 1-866-939-2010
• Puerto Rico (in Spanish): 1-866-929-2010

In a last effort push to have everyone mail in their forms, the U.S. Census Bureau, in conjunction with ACCC members and other volunteers, lead a March to the Mailbox Campaign on Saturday, April 10, 2010.

A rally started at CPACS at noon.  A Caravan, consisting of approximately 20 cars, drove through the Doraville and Chamblee areas concentrating in residential areas along the Buford Highway corridor.  Driving cars adorned with census rally signs, pennants, and flags, the volunteers rallied through the community to hand out flyers to residents.  The Caravan passed by approximately 800-1200 Hard-to-Count residential and business areas with an estimated outreach to 3000-3500 people.

The new “deadline” to mail your forms back is April 16, 2010.  After that, Census enumerators will start knocking on your doors.  ”To mail it in it costs the government and taxpayers 42 cents per mailing but if a census enumerator has to come to your door that’s at a cost of $57 to the taxpayer,” said Ed Davis, a regional coordinator for the Census Bureau.

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The Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center has analyzed the latest participation rates from the 2010 decennial census to help outreach groups understand what areas are not fully being counted and why.  The census aims to count everyone, but historical returns show that some areas are counted more fully than others.

The results show the general trend that the larger the minority population, the less Census participation.

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Clayton County has a response rate of 49% compared the National average of 60% and Georgia average of 57%.   Please come and enjoy the goodies and events on April 10, 2010 in Clayton County.  All are welcome!

Khmer

Vietnamese

You can continue to keep mailing in your Census forms.  A 100% mail back rate would save us $1.5 BILLION.

Georgia is still lagging behind the national average.  Please encourage everyone you know to fill out and mail back the Census form.  It is only once every ten years and the simplest way to give back to your community.

If you do not receive a form in the mail by April 12, you can call the Toll Free Numbers to have one sent to you.  If you don’t want to wait, then visit a QAC or BCS and pick up a “Be Counted” Form.