Everyone counts, and that is exactly the message workers in U.S. Census Bureau want people to understand.
The local office, which oversees 16 counties in Oklahoma, is gearing up to count every resident under its charge.
Most of that work will be done in March through mail-outs and house-to-house visits.
The mass-mailing program will be in large city areas only, and rural towns and residents will be visited by census workers.
There will be 10 questions with the official census form, and information provided is confidential.
Publicly only the number and demographics on ethnicity will become public information, according to Brett Schriever, local census office manager.
Census employees go through extensive background checks to ensure the privacy of the data, Schriever said, and security is high at the local office.
So there is nothing to lose by being counted and everything to gain for the community in which you live and the state of Oklahoma.
Schriever said every person counted means dollars in federal funds and grants.
Strictly speaking in financial terms, it works out to around $1,200. If 10 families of four are missed throughout Oklahoma, that is $40,000 dollars in lost funding — or, in more concrete terms, that is a local medical clinic, for example, that never will be constructed.
In 2000, Oklahoma’s final numbers resulted in the loss of a congressional seat, and Schriever said it is his personal opinion that seat was lost by only 20,000 to 40,000 people and representation could be regained along with that seat this year.
Census workers will be going to great lengths to make sure everyone — from the homeless to the family of four down the street — is accounted for in the state. Schriever said all people are counted who are considered residing in Oklahoma, even “undocumented,” or illegal, residents.
Those undocumented are using the services in the state and should be counted to ensure enough services are provided, he said.
Schriever said the majority of fear about the census stems from those who are not educated on the count. In the coming weeks, there will be questionnaire assistance centers set up that can provide information, especially to those who speak limited English.
Another good source of information can be found at: http://2010.census.gov/2010census.
The census is a good way to make your voice heard through representation on the federal level.
Make sure you and your family count.