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Forget the reports of certain Americans being rounded up and placed in internment camps, untold evil spawned through use of the GPS units used by workers, New World Order conspiracy theorists who shrink from black helicopters overhead and still believe moon landings were staged: Census 2010 is good for you.
It's not a government plot, this counting of Americans that takes place every 10 years. It is used in many ways to improve our lives.
The short, 10-question census form will begin arriving in the mail next week. Hand-delivered forms started going out last week. Census officials report the new streamlined form should take only 10 minutes to complete.
They are very valuable minutes. By getting an accurate count of Douglas County's population, residents reap myriad benefits.
The census is used to allocate money for everything from hospitals to job training centers, schools to senior centers, public works projects like bridges and tunnels to funding emergency services.
We need to garner our share of money for all of these things. That means every man, woman and child needs to be counted. And we know it's tempting in light of all that, but leave out the family pets.
The census questions ask how many people live in the house; the name, sex, race, age and date of birth of each resident; whether a house is owned or rented; if a person is Hispanic, Latino or Spanish; and for a telephone number in case additional information is needed.
Although some argue the questions constitute an invasion of privacy and will be used for nefarious purposes, the U.S. Census Bureau assures us that individual data is secure.
All individual answers remain confidential for 72 years under current law. Only summary data is used, and it is used heavily.
“The decennial census is the only uniform measure of population, socioeconomic and housing data in the nation,” according to the bureau's Web site. “ It uses the same measures from the U.S. level down to every single census block in the country.”
Federal, state and local governments use the census data for planning and allocating money for a wealth of programs, and nonprofit groups identify target populations that might need services. Businesses — and this is an important one — use the census to make decisions on where they want to operate, gleaning information on whether an community can supply the customers they need to thrive and whether there are enough workers available to keep things going.
The census is a snapshot in time, allowing us to compare where we are now to where we were 10 years ago and adjust for the changes.
So take 10 minutes, fill out the form and send it back. The community you'll be serving is your own.
It's not a government plot, this counting of Americans that takes place every 10 years. It is used in many ways to improve our lives.
The short, 10-question census form will begin arriving in the mail next week. Hand-delivered forms started going out last week. Census officials report the new streamlined form should take only 10 minutes to complete.
They are very valuable minutes. By getting an accurate count of Douglas County's population, residents reap myriad benefits.
The census is used to allocate money for everything from hospitals to job training centers, schools to senior centers, public works projects like bridges and tunnels to funding emergency services.
We need to garner our share of money for all of these things. That means every man, woman and child needs to be counted. And we know it's tempting in light of all that, but leave out the family pets.
The census questions ask how many people live in the house; the name, sex, race, age and date of birth of each resident; whether a house is owned or rented; if a person is Hispanic, Latino or Spanish; and for a telephone number in case additional information is needed.
Although some argue the questions constitute an invasion of privacy and will be used for nefarious purposes, the U.S. Census Bureau assures us that individual data is secure.
All individual answers remain confidential for 72 years under current law. Only summary data is used, and it is used heavily.
“The decennial census is the only uniform measure of population, socioeconomic and housing data in the nation,” according to the bureau's Web site. “ It uses the same measures from the U.S. level down to every single census block in the country.”
Federal, state and local governments use the census data for planning and allocating money for a wealth of programs, and nonprofit groups identify target populations that might need services. Businesses — and this is an important one — use the census to make decisions on where they want to operate, gleaning information on whether an community can supply the customers they need to thrive and whether there are enough workers available to keep things going.
The census is a snapshot in time, allowing us to compare where we are now to where we were 10 years ago and adjust for the changes.
So take 10 minutes, fill out the form and send it back. The community you'll be serving is your own.
