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Clay Probes Census Preparations to Reduce Undercount in 2010
03/23/09
For Immediate Release Monday, March 23, 2009 |
MEDIA CONTACT: STEVEN ENGELHARDT (314) 504-4029 |
Clay Probes Census Preparations to Reduce Undercount in 2010 Partnerships & Targeted Media to Focus On African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Other Hard to |
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Washington, DC - Chairman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri, pressed the Acting Census Director and the media group in charge of national and local census advertising to detail how they plan to reduce the national Census undercount among minorities and other hard to count populations. Mr. Clay, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Information Policy, the Census and National Archives, conducted an extensive hearing earlier today which included testimony from Acting Census Director Thomas L. Mesenbourg; Government Accounting Office Strategic Issues Director Robert Goldenkoff; New York City Census Coordinator Stacey Cumberbatch and Jeff Tarakajian, Executive Vice President of DRAFTFBC Media.
Chairman Clay’s questioning of Acting Census Director Mesenbourg and Jeff Tarakajian, Executive Vice President of DRAFTFBC Media, revealed that with the addition of $1 billion from the Obama stimulus plan, the total communications budget for Census 2010 is now $312 million. That figure is $50 million more than in 2000. Acting Census Director Mesenbourg also reported to Chairman Clay that the Bureau has learned valuable lessons from 2000 which will greatly improve targeting for 2010. For instance, the evidence proves that the strongest indicator of whether an individual will complete and return a Census form is the composition of that household. Traditional households, headed by both a man and a woman, are the most likely to respond. While single parent households, especially those headed by women, are the least likely to respond. Census 2010 targeting efforts will be adapted to reach these harder to count Americans. Acting Director Mesenbourg also told Chairman Clay that the bureau was making a special effort to update its mailing address canvass to reflect homes lost to foreclosure. |
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