Vans help lead publicity blitz for census

If you haven't heard about the coming U.S. Census, you will soon.

Washington is spending $340 million to make sure.

Through March, the nation will be bombarded by what the federal government calls "the largest civic outreach and awareness campaign in U.S. history," aimed at getting every household to fill out a 10-question form for the once-a-decade count.

The blitz is being led by a fleet of 13 cargo vans and trailers, the high-tech town criers of the Census Bureau's "Portrait of America" tour already in its second week. Specially wired for social networking, they are traveling the country to tout the benefits of an exact tally of the population, now estimated at 308 million.

The vehicles in the $15 million road show took off from cities all over the United States, from Independence Mall in Philadelphia, Times Square in New York, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Their travels - totaling 150,000 miles - can be tracked on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

If you're still oblivious to the census, there is more.

This week, a $325 million barrage of print, broadcast, cable, and online advertising begins. About $100 million of the promotional budget is economic-stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Before March 15, when the census questionnaires are supposed to arrive in mailboxes, the vehicles are scheduled for more than 800 stops, at malls, parades, festivals, and sporting events, including the Super Bowl. Today, the one that departed Philadelphia, dubbed Constitution, is to return to the city, along with a larger vehicle, Mail It Back. They will fete the opening of a census satellite office at the Philadelphia Business and Technology Center in West Philadelphia's Parkside section.

Having calculated that the fleet's engines will add about 223 metric tons of carbon to the environment, tour organizers plan to offset the bad through carbon-credit donations, or green good deeds.

"There is no way anyone will not know that 2010 is a census year," said Yvette Nunez of the bureau's Philadelphia office, which anticipates hiring 1,800 to 3,000 temporary "enumerators" to go door-to-door in the city, at $17.75 an hour, to help complete the count.

Additional hires will be made in other areas covered by the regional office, including Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware, 11 New Jersey counties, and the District of Columbia.

The decennial census affects the distribution of $400 billion annually in federal aid to cities and states, as well as the apportionment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

That's why Mayor Nutter instructed his administration to raise census awareness with a local campaign - "Philly Counts!" - and why he plans to be present when Constitution pulls into Parkside.

The vehicles have interactive exhibits explaining how to fill out the questionnaire, and laptops with digital cameras for people who want to record why the census is important to them. The testimonials will be uploaded to the bureau's Web site, www.2010census.gov.

Chinatown pharmacist Gary Ng, 54, is president of On Lok House on North 10th Street. The 54-unit independent-living facility for seniors is subsidized by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

"If we don't report the right number of people living in Chinatown," he said, "we will miss out on grants."

Ng, who came to the United States from Hong Kong in 1974, said immigrants often are wary of the census, especially if they are here illegally; they fear the information will be used to deport them. He said he reassures them that by law it cannot be used for that purpose.

"We tell our people the census is very important, don't just throw it away," Ng said. "We help them fill in the boxes."

Census officials cite their slogan "10,10,10" when stressing the simplicity of the questionnaire.

"Ten minutes for 10 questions that will affect your community for 10 years," Nunez said.

The census basically asks how many people are living in the household, their names, and their ages. It does not, Nunez said, ask for immigration status, incomes, or Social Security numbers.

"In the past, some people feared participation," she said. "They need to know that their information is not shared with any federal agency or any individual, and that all census employees are sworn under oath to maintain privacy for life. We just want to know how many people are in the United States."

The census is mandated by the Constitution. The first was in 1790.

Today, there are about 130 million households in the United States. Each will receive a census form, available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Russian. Guides are available in 59 languages to help people fill out the English version of the census form. Zip codes dominated by Latinos will receive English-Spanish bilingual forms.

The forms are to be mailed back no later than early April. After May 1, a household that fails to return the form will be visited by an enumerator, to either collect the information or ascertain that the dwelling is vacant.

The surge in foreclosures and the abundance of empty houses will pose a particular challenge this year, officials said. So, too, will a phenomenon called "doubling up," in which people with money troubles give up their homes and move in with family or friends. In that case, everyone living under the same roof should be counted on the same form.

The mail-back rate had dropped in recent decades, from 78 percent in 1970 to 65 percent in 1990. The bureau was relying on unpaid public-service announcements to spread its message. But in 2000, it began buying ads. The mail-back rate rose to 67 percent.

The two-percentage-point gain may seem modest, said Stephen Buckner, a bureau spokesman in Washington. But it is significant because "for every percentage point we raise the mail-back rate, we save an estimated $85 million" on in-person data collection.

At the Constitution's send-off on Independence Mall last week, Nutter took less than five minutes to fill out a sample questionnaire.

Afterward he quipped, "That's the best form I've ever completed."

For information on temporary employment with the census, call 1-866-861-2010. Enter your zip code to be connected to the appropriate office.

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