It is time again for the U.S. Census, the count of population the country undertakes every 10 years as required by the Constitution, and though this year's form promises to be one of the shortest in history, there will still be plenty of questions about what it is, who must take part, and why.The what is, simply, the Census counts people. Why? Census information affects the numbers of seats your state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives, but more than that, the information the census collects helps to determine how more than $400 billion dollars of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services like:
- Hospitals
- Job training centers
- Schools
- Senior centers
- Bridges, tunnels and other-public works projects
- Emergency service
Thanks to the Internet, there are plenty of sites online to help answer questions about the process. You can even see an advance copy of the form.
You can begin your search here: http://2010.census.gov/ or in Spanish at http://2010.census.gov/espanol/. For common questions about how your information will and will not be used, check out the Census's Common Privacy Questions or check out some common questions asked about the Census itself at The Whole Story.
For those interested in how the Census is going around the country, you can track the progress this year through video, audio and photo blogs, and get an interesting snapshot of American in the process, at the Census's Take Part page.
Whether you are a government planner trying to get money to improve roads or schools or just someone looking for a long-lost ancestor, Census records play an important part in all our lives. For some interesting information gathered from the last census in 2000, check out the main Census site at http://www.census.gov/. Or for something a little closer to home, check out the special list of Census facts gathered about Indianapolis and New Orleans for the Super Bowl XLIV crowd.
