The census is coming, the census is coming and local officials have taken up the cause of letting people know the importance of being counted.

At the Diversity Dynamics meeting on Tuesday, deputy mayor Linda Klinck led a discussion regarding the 2010 U.S. Census with a group of representatives from Ivy Tech, the Salvation Army, Girls Scouts, Emmaus Mission Center, El Puente, INfo and Logansport-Cass County Chamber of Commerce. They left with the assignment of spreading the word to their customers, clients and members.

“I think it’s really about reaching people and encouraging them however you think possible to be sure they complete their census form,” Klinck said.

So, why should people fill out forms the forms that ask just 10 questions, some of which ask for personal information such as name, age and date of birth?

Klinck explained that population determines how many seats each state has in the House of Representatives.

“We want to be well represented in Washington D.C.,” she said.

At the state level, the numbers determine legislative districts. The federal government also uses the census in a formula to distribute funding for schools, service agencies and new construction.

“They need to know we have people here so that they can get the funding resources to us,” Klinck said. “$300 billion is what they give away. We want to get our share of it.”

Diversity Dynamics, a group of local leaders who come together to discuss ways to embrace diversity, invited the community liaison from Tyson Foods to talk to the group about how the company educated its multicultural employees about the census.

Gabby Moore said Tyson Foods recognized the need to publicize the census within the Hispanic community because most are not familiar with the process and the reasons for it.

To help encourage participation, Tyson Foods set up a booth last week and for four hours handed out census information in Spanish and answered questions. Moore called it an educational experience and offered to give similar presentations to other groups.

“Being Hispanic myself, I know there is a lot of lack of understanding,” said Moore, who added that Mexico does not conduct a census.

For families where children still interpret English for their parents, most mail besides bills gets thrown away.

Klinck suggested targeting Hispanic children in the schools as a way to get the message to parents.

Many Hispanics reportedly do not feel comfortable giving out personal information.

“To them, that’s too much information,” Moore said. “They don’t want anything to do with it because they don’t understand the importance of the funding and all the effects. They’d rather leave it alone and not mess with it.”

According to the Census Bureau, all information obtained is kept confidential. Federal law prohibits the Census Bureau and its employees to share information with any other government agency, such as law enforcement, the IRS, welfare, the FBI, or immigration.

Through an interpreter, Tyson Foods also passed along census information with its Burmese employees. Moore said Logansport contains about 35 Burmese households.

Assistance for completing the questionnaire will be offered at Cass County Government Building, the mayor’s office at the City Building, Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation and Emmaus Mission Center. There will also be a local event around Census Day in April.

• Kevin Lilly is news editor of the Pharos-Tribune. He can be reached at 574-732-5117 or kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com.



Census questions

The 2010 U.S. Census has been reduced to the following 10 questions:

1 - How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?

2 - Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Questions 1?

3 - Is this house, apartment, or mobile home: owned with mortgage, owned without mortgage, rented, occupied without rent?

4 - What is your telephone number?

5 - Your name?

6 - Your sex?

7 - What is your age and date of birth?

8 - Are you of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin?

9 - What is your race?

10 - Do you sometimes live or stay somewhere else?



Want to know more?

Census data detailed by county and city can be found at www.census.indiana.edu.



Workers wanted

The Census Bureau still needs people to fill temporary positions that pay $13.25. Duties include locating households that did not respond by mail and helping people fill out their forms at answer centers. The hours are generally evenings and weekends. For more information, call the toll-free jobs line at 866-861-2010 or visit www.2010censusjobs.gov.