Travis County Commissioners Court
March 24, 2009,
Item 5
>> no.
5 is to receive presentation and take appropriate action regarding the united states 2010 census.
okay.
thank you very much for bringing those to us.
you just give me the rest of them and we'll pass them on down.
i think I've got one -- I'll have two.
>> morning judge, Commissioners.
thank you for the opportunity to come before you.
i'm sure that you have heard that this -- we're getting ready for the census in 2010.
next year, April 1 is census, and we -- in preparation for that operation, we are getting ready for what we call the campus -- address campusing, where we have -- we have been hiring hundreds of people throughout the region.
this region being the Texas, louisiana, mississippi, but in Texas we have 11 offices, and each of the offices has been in preparation of recruiting and testing thousands of people.
the 1st of April -- the beginning of April we'll start with the address canvassing where enumerators, listers, will go out in the field and actually verify all the addresses with our hand-held computers.
the addresses that we receive from the lukea operation, which happened last year, where we received addresses from the cities, the counties, 911, post office, all were incorporated with our database.
and now we will go out in the field for the next two months verifying each and every housing unit, and those -- people will be contacted if we need verification, if we see, like, another -- a housing unit in back or another development, and then verify those are actually housing units.
that information, again, towards the end of the year, will be sent back to the cities to let them know what we found.
and that information is what is used for -- to conduct the census.
the majority of the census is conducted by sending out the questionnaire, and that would be sent out the middle of March of next year.
and we also would have special quarters operation where we will enumerate universities, hospitals, nursing homes, rv camps, the homeless.
this time around we will count the homeless in three nights.
in 2000 it was done only in one night.
this time it will be in three nights.
so these are all the operations that we are getting ready for, and we will see -- right now there's 11 offices throughout Texas.
the one in georgetown takes care of Travis County in addition to 15 other counties.
and in the fall we'll open up 30 more offices, and I'm not too sure of where those are located.
but what we are doing is coming before you and the community to form what we call partnerships, because this is a federal mandate -- you know, according to the constitution, we are required to count everyone in the united states, and for the purpose of apportionment, and the number of seats in congress for a redistricting and for funding $300 billion of federal funds are allocated every year based on population count.
and if you are not -- do not have a complete and accurate count, then you could lose funds, like for ten years.
so what we want is the most accurate and complete count from every community and to form the partners.
and partnerships can be at every level, with churches, nonprofit organizations, community leaders, anyone that could give the message -- get the message out that this is important, it is safe.
we do not share this information with anyone for 72 years, especially on an individual basis, and that it is short.
this is the first time that we were only going to use the short form.
in 2000 we used the long form.
one out of six homes received the long form, which was 40-plus questions and took hours.
this time every household will receive only the short form.
>> how many
>> [inaudible].
>> ten questions -- yeah, we say it's ten questions, take you ten minutes, and it affects your community for ten years.
>> okay.
>> and so those -- census tracts that have a high percentage of households that speak spanish, not that are identified as hispanic but actually speak spanish as their first language, will receive a bilingual questionnaire, which is the first time a federal agency will do this.
in addition we'll have help, aids, on other languages.
we'll be counted centers and quality assistance sites throughout the community where we will have some -- a box with our questionnaire, perhaps a library or where people do have -- go in and get some services.
so what we are asking is if we could form a partnership with Travis County and perhaps have -- form a complete count committee, which is made of volunteers from your community, people that are your civic leaders, people from your faith-based organizations, the media, the business, to help us get the word out, and this is an activity that the committee would plan.
the planning would start this year for activities for next year.
you could have, for instance, the city asks the city to put the census message on the utility bills or if you have a cable, put it -- the message on the cable.
anything that would work -- you know, you can use what works and how you can get your community leaders and yourselves as officials to get the word out.
>> did you --
>> yes, I am.
i'm lupe ochoa, and I am from san antonio.
i didn't von von is the one that's assigned to Travis County.
she is in new orleans this week, so she is the one that she will be working very closely with you -- with this group.
>> do you have any idea how they arrived at 72 years?
just out of curiosity.
>> I really don't know, I think I heard someone was saying back when that was decided, that that was the average length of a life span.
and so we may have to be thinking about extending that.
but I believe that that's the basis of it.
>> so I guess what we can do almost immediately is to adopt the supporting resolution.
>> yes, sir.
>> and then you'd like for us to start working on a complete count committee.
>> right.
>> -- made up of local residents who basically would help us get out the word.
>> correct.
let me say, I forgot to mention, in 2000 the response rate, when we sent out the questionnaires and people sent back the questionnaires, nationwide it was 67%.
in Texas it was 64%.
and county of travis, it was 67, and city of Austin was 67%.
so that meant that a third of your population did not respond.
and we know we're going to have more barriers and more obstacles.
you know, it's a larger appropriation.
people are more mobile, people are getting more junk mail, so we're going to send out messages.
you know, you're going to receive the questionnaire in the mail.
you know, please don't throw it away, and this type of information that -- and you'll see a lot of media preparation in 2010.
but getting that message at the local level is what I think really works, works best.
>> in the year 2000 when we did the last census, did we use channel 17 media, I guess, to get the word out on the census?
anybody recall?
>> we did.
>> we did.
>> okay.
okay.
good.
we can use it again.
i wish the cable outlet would do the same.
it's a big deal.
it really is.
>> for residents who are concerned about divulging certain identification information because of ins issues.
>> that --
>> what should we tell them?
>> that it is safe.
that we do not share the information with anyone, with any agency.
we take an oath that we -- there's a $250,000 fine and five-year imprisonment, that we take many steps from the process of processing the paperwork to even gathering the information that it is safeguarded.
and we do not share the information.
we -- the actual questionnaire does not ask if you're here legally or not.
it just asks for seven basic data questions, or ten questions, but the data questions are your name, age, sex, ethnicity, race.
and -- so it's not identified if anyone --
>> doesn't ask citizenship?
>> right, it does not.
>> the prohibition that you just cited must be in some federal law.
>> yes, sir.
>> and can you share that with us at a later time?
>> yes, I will.
>> just so we can have it available?
>> I will send it by email to your office.
>> okay.
and just send it to any one of us.
okay?
well, we can hardly wait to get started.
>> yes, we really look forward to it, and it is at the local level that it really is most successful.
>> and it's real important.
it's kind of like voting.
it amazes me how many times we say that and how many people still either don't believe it or don't hear it or hear it and don't believe it later.
>> and it's -- one of the things that -- we're talking about the future of your community.
for a parent we're talking about the future of their children, the services, schools, libraries, all the services that that child or that family needs, you know, is dependent on the population count.
>> my friends and acquaintances understand money.
>> right.
>> anything else?
thank you very much, and I'm sure we'll be visiting with you and ms.
simian.
>> yes.
>> -- later.
>> thank you so much.
>> thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 2:12 PM