Census 2000: Why Should You Answer?
Every individual and his or her local community will benefit from an accurate and complete census. City and state planners use census data to select locations for new schools, roads and highways, hospitals, libraries, day care centers, mass transit facilities, parks, and dozens of other public facilities. Many of these facilities are paid for by Federal programs based on census results. Over $185 billion in federal funds are awarded to American cities every year based on population data reported in the census.
Answering the census creates new jobs and ensures us the delivery of needed goods and services. Private businesses use census data to plan locations for new shopping malls, residential housing developments, factories, offices, theaters, and restaurants.
If disaster strikes your town, census data will be of vital assistance to the federal agencies that will help you recover. When Hurricane Andrew devastated parts of Florida in 1991, Census Bureau officials were able to assist in the rescue effort by providing accurate estimates of the total number of people living in each block.
Your answers are kept secret -- by law. The Census Bureau is prohibited by law from sharing your answers with any other government agency, including the IRS, Immigration, federal courts, the military, or local police. All Census workers are sworn to secrecy and face $5,000 fines and jail time for giving out any information they see on a census form. This law works, too. Millions of forms from the 1990 census were processed without any breach of privacy.
To quote the U.S. Census Bureau, "This is your future. Don't leave it blank."
For more information about Census 2000, visit the Census
Bureau's Web Site at:
http://www.census.gov/
Also on US Government Info/Resources |
Census 2000: Apportionment and Representation
Find out how census data is used to determine each state's representation in the U.S. House of Representatives and to draw state Congressional Districts.Census 2000 Fast Facts
What's the schedule for Census 2000? What's on the Census form? What is there to be counted?Jobs at the Census Bureau? Count on It!
Thousands of full and part time workers across the nation are being hired now.
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On Other About.com Guide Sites |
Will Census 2000 Hurt Blacks?
African-American Culture Guide, R. Jeneen Jones, examines how Census 2000's new method for identifying race may actually work against African-Americans.The Definition of Self
Will the new expanded race classifications of Census 2000 address the needs of multiracial individuals? Race Relations Guide, Kimberly Hohman reports.Census 2000: Geography NetLinks
Links to all you need to know about the geographic tools of Census 2000 from Geography Guide, Matt Rosenberg.Asian American Groups Gear Up
Guide Vincent Law reports why an accurate count in Census 2000 is of vital importance to Asian-Americans and what APA groups are doing to it happens.
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