THE 2010 CENSUS: HOW COMPLETE COUNT

COMMITTEES, LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, PHILANTHROPIC ORGANIZATIONS, NOT-FOR-PROFITS

AND THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY CAN CONTRIBUTE TO AN ACCURATE CENSUS
HEARING
BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INFORMATION POLICY,

CENSUS, AND NATIONAL ARCHIVES
OF THE

COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
DECEMBER 2, 2009

Serial No. 11171

Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

(
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html
http://www.oversight.house.gov

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON

58133 PDF

2010

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 5121800; DC area (202) 5121800
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COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM

EDOLPHUS TOWNS,
PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland
DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio
JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts
WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri
DIANE E. WATSON, California
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts
JIM COOPER, Tennessee
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois
MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of
Columbia
PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island
DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas
PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire
CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut
PETER WELCH, Vermont
BILL FOSTER, Illinois
JACKIE SPEIER, California
STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio
JUDY CHU, California

New York, Chairman

DARRELL E. ISSA, California
DAN BURTON, Indiana
JOHN L. MICA, Florida
MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee
MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio
LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia
PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina
BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California
JIM JORDAN, Ohio
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah
AARON SCHOCK, Illinois
BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri
ANH JOSEPH CAO, Louisiana

RON STROMAN, Staff Director

MICHAEL MCCARTHY, Deputy Staff Director
CARLA HULTBERG, Chief Clerk
LARRY BRADY, Minority Staff Director

SUBCOMMITTEE

ON

INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS,

AND

NATIONAL ARCHIVES

WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri, Chairman

PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania
PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina
LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York
JOHN L. MICA, Florida
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of
JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah
Columbia
DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois
STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio
DIANE E. WATSON, California
DARRYL PIGGEE, Staff Director

(II)

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CONTENTS
Page

Hearing held on December 2, 2009 ........................................................................

Statement of:
OHare, William, senior fellow, Annie E. Casey Foundation; Melanie
Campbell, executive director, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; David Williams, Chair and planning director, Gaston County
Complete Count Committee, Gastonia, NC; Yvette Cumberbatch, coordinator, NYC 2010 census, New York City government; and Mercedes
Lemp Jacobs, director, Office of Latino Affairs, Washington, DC, government ..........................................................................................................
Campbell, Melanie .....................................................................................
Cumberbatch, Yvette ................................................................................
Jacobs, Mercedes Lemp .............................................................................
OHare, William .........................................................................................
Williams, David .........................................................................................
Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:
Campbell, Melanie, executive director, National Coalition on Black Civic
Participation, prepared statement of ..........................................................
Clay, Hon. Wm. Lacy, a Representative in Congress from the State of
Missouri, prepared statement of ..................................................................
Cumberbatch, Yvette, coordinator, NYC 2010 census, New York City
government, prepared statement of ............................................................
Jacobs, Mercedes Lemp, director, Office of Latino Affairs, Washington,
DC, government, prepared statement of .....................................................
OHare, William, senior fellow, Annie E. Casey Foundation, prepared
statement of ...................................................................................................
Williams, David, Chair and planning director, Gaston County Complete
Count Committee, Gastonia, NC, prepared statement of ..........................

7
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(III)

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THE 2010 CENSUS: HOW COMPLETE COUNT

COMMITTEES, LOCAL GOVERNMENTS, PHILANTHROPIC
ORGANIZATIONS,
NOT-FORPROFITS AND THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY
CAN CONTRIBUTE TO AN ACCURATE CENSUS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
ON INFORMATION POLICY, CENSUS, AND
NATIONAL ARCHIVES,
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM,

SUBCOMMITTEE

Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:45 p.m., in room
2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Clay, McHenry, Westmoreland, and
Chu.
Staff present: Darryl Piggee, staff director/counsel; Jean Gosa,
clerk; Yvette Cravins, counsel; Frank Davis, professional staff
member; Charisma Williams, staff assistant; Adam Hodge, full
committee deputy press secretary; Leneal Scott, full committee IT
specialist; Adam Fromm, minority chief clerk and Member liaison;
and Chapin Fay, minority counsel.
Mr. CLAY. The Information Policy, Census, and National Archives Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform
Committee will now come to order.
Good afternoon and welcome to todays hearing entitled, The
2010 Census: How Complete Count Committees, Local Governments, Philanthropic Organizations, Not-for-Profits and the Business Community Can Contribute to an Accurate Census.
Without objection, the Chair and ranking minority member will
have 5 minutes to make opening statements, followed by opening
statements not to exceed 3 minutes by any other Member who
seeks recognition. And, without objection, Members and witness
may have 5 legislative days to submit a written statement or extraneous materials for the record.
The purpose of todays hearing is to examine exactly what the
title says: we want to explore how the contributions of all of you
can contribute to an accurate census. That has to be our singular
focus. We need the efforts and cooperation not only of you in this
hearing room, but those of everyone. We need everyone to get this
done. I am very passionate about this, as I am sure you are also.
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This hearing will focus on Complete Count Committees. The subcommittee will explore all aspects of the CCC, including, but not
limited, to diversity of membership, activities, funding alternatives,
and special initiatives in rural and urban settings. The Census Bureaus interaction and cooperation with local and county governments and stakeholders will be explored.
Additionally, this hearing will track the efforts underway by local
governments to actively encourage census participation. The subcommittee will also hear testimony on activities specific to Hard
to Count Communities. The subcommittee is also interested in the
lessons learned from past census activities in developing a best
practices guide for future census outreach.
We want to make sure that we work with the Bureau through
the Regional Partnership Program. The program is credited with
attributing to the success of the 2000 census. It is the Regional Offices of the Census Bureau that is key to your work on the ground.
They are empowered to assist you in an incredible number of ways.
Work closely with them.
I thank all of our witnesses for appearing today and look forward
to their testimonies. I now yield to the distinguished ranking member, Mr. McHenry, of North Carolina.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Wm. Lacy Clay follows:]

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5
Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for
your leadership on the census and all the other issues that you
have been working on this Congress, including on Financial Services, which we both serve together on as well. I want to thank the
panel for testifying today. In particular, my fellow resident of Gaston County, NC, Mr. Williams, for being here today and traveling
to Washington.
The Census Bureau is conducting an unprecedented outreach
and awareness campaign for the 2010 decennial census. While its
own advertising initiatives and partnership programs with various
national organizations and institutions are certainly crucial to improving the overall response rate, the success of the count is largely
dependent on the work being done in the trenches, in small communities and neighborhoods across America.
By forming partnerships with local governments, civic groups,
and religious institutions and cultural organizations, the Census
Bureau is better able to navigate the social and physical landscapes of individual neighborhoods throughout the United States.
These partnerships, known as Complete Count Committees, are
comprised of local individuals with strong community standing who
are best equipped to reach out to everyone in their area and make
sure they get counted by the Bureau.
Each county, town, or community is different from one another.
The same cookie cutter approach to conducting outreach in promoting participation simply cannot work for every one of these communities. It is up to these Complete Count Committees to develop best
practices for their own regions and communicate effectively with
the Census Bureau in their successes and failures.
Some States, such as my home State of North Carolina, are well
ahead of the curve in the formation of Complete Count Committees
for the 2010 census. Others have yet to take the initiative and
begin preparations for local outreach efforts for the decennial census.
It is my hope that todays hearing will provide this subcommittee
with valuable insight into the progress being made to prepare the
census and our communities to challenges yet to be faced and how
Members of Congress and the Census Bureau can best assist local
governments and civic organizations in preparing for the 2010
count.
I want to thank the witnesses for testifying today and for coming
to Washington, DC.
And at this time, Mr. Chairman, if I can introduce my fellow
resident of Gaston County, who is here before us today. He is in
the middle of the panel before two nice ladies, and they will be nice
to you, I hope.
But David Williams is the Director of Planning and Development
Services for Gaston County, NC. He has served in the department
for 13 years and as its director for about the last 4 years. Mr. Williams is Chair of the countys Complete Count Committee for the
2010 census and also worked on the Complete Count Committee in
2010. The father of two daughters in Gaston County, he and his
wife live in Gaston County. He is an Appalachian State graduate.
Appalachian State, Mr. Chairman, they have actually had a couple championships, football championships. Three? Three in a row.

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Pretty amazing. We actually beat Michigan State, so thankfully
neither one of us have any Michigan ties, so we are all right with
that, right, Mr. Williams?
So thank you, Mr. Williams, for testifying today and for making
the trip.
Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. McHenry, and thanks for that notable
sports history, as well as introducing us to Mr. Williams and introducing him to the subcommittee.
Let me also recognize the rest of the panel. We will first hear
from Dr. William OHare, senior fellow of the Annie E. Casey Foundation since October 1993. Dr. OHare has directed the Kids Count
Program at the Annie Casey Foundation. Dr. OHare has a Ph.D.
in sociology demography and 30-plus years working in non-profits
with a focus on disadvantaged Americans. Thank you for being
here.
Our next witness will be Ms. Melanie Campbell, executive director of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation. In 2000,
she was recognized as one of Washington, DCs, Top 40 Under 40
Emerging Leaders, which we note she is still under 40. [Laughter.]
She currently serves on the Board of the Black Leadership
Forum.
Our fourth witness is Ms. Yvette Stacey Cumberbatch, coordinator of New York City 2010 census, New York City government. Ms.
Cumberbatch previously served as chief of staff of the New York
City Housing Authority, assistant New York State attorney general, and chief of staff special counsel to the city of New York deputy mayor for legal affairs. Thank you also for being here.
Our final witness will be Ms. Mercedes Lemp, director, Office of
Latino Affairs, Washington, DC, government. Ms. Lemp Jacobs
served for 4 years as the executive director of Language, Etc., a
non-profit organization providing English as a second language and
the other services to mostly Latino immigrants. She serves as the
director of the Office of Latino Affairs. Thank you also for being
here.
Welcome all of you to the hearing.
It is the policy of the subcommittee to swear in all witnesses before they testify, and I ask all of you please stand and raise your
right hands.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. CLAY. Thank you. You may be seated.
Let the record reflect that all the witnesses answered in the affirmative.
Each of you will have 5 minutes to make an opening statement.
Your complete written testimony will be included in the hearing
record. The yellow light will indicate that it is time to sum up; the
red light will indicate that your time has expired.
Dr. OHare, you may begin.

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STATEMENTS OF WILLIAM OHARE, SENIOR FELLOW, ANNIE E.
CASEY FOUNDATION; MELANIE CAMPBELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COALITION ON BLACK CIVIC PARTICIPATION; DAVID WILLIAMS, CHAIR AND PLANNING DIRECTOR, GASTON COUNTY COMPLETE COUNT COMMITTEE, GASTONIA, NC; YVETTE CUMBERBATCH, COORDINATOR, NYC
2010 CENSUS, NEW YORK CITY GOVERNMENT; AND MERCEDES LEMP JACOBS, DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF LATINO AFFAIRS, WASHINGTON, DC, GOVERNMENT
STATEMENT OF WILLIAM OHARE

Mr. OHARE. Thank you, Chairman Clay and Ranking Member

McHenry. I am pleased to be here today to represent the Funders
Census Initiative and the many foundations that are part of that
collaborative effort. I am a demographer and a senior fellow at the
Annie E. Casey Foundation, and also a consultant with the
Funders Census Initiative. My involvement in the decennial census
goes back several decades and includes experience as a data user,
as well as a Foundation program officer who supported efforts to
educate stakeholders on the importance of the census.
I believe foundations have several important attributes that put
them in a unique position to help the Census Bureau get an accurate and fair census. For example, foundation program offices are
embedded in organizational networks which allow them to easily
reach hard-to-count communities with a message about the importance of the census; they can provide a critical link between the
Census Bureau staff and the trusted voices in local communities;
they are in a good position to foster public-private partnerships like
those involving the Census Bureau and local grassroots organizations; and, of course, foundations can often provide funding for activities to promote census awareness and participation in hard-tocount communities.
I will focus my comments today on three topics: the development
and mission of the Funders Census Initiative, FCIs activities related to the 2010 census, and, finally, some recommendations. I have
submitted a longer written version of this testimony that provides
more details regarding the points I raise here.
The Funders Census Initiative is an ad hoc coalition of foundations and philanthropic community groups focused on getting an
accurate and fair and complete 2010 census. Foundations have supported census projects in the past, but this is the first time they
have formally shared strategies and information, pooled resources
in an organized campaign. It represents a major step forward in
terms of involvement of foundations in promoting the decennial
census.
FCIs mission is straightforward: to stimulate interest in the
2010 census among foundations and their grantees; to mobilize
philanthropic resources for census outreach; and to facilitate census
engagement through resource development, information sharing,
strategic advice, and direct consultation. A wide range of foundations and affinity groups from national to community-focused are
participating in the initiative, and we invite you to visit our Web
site to learn more about FCI.

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In terms of the activities, over the past year, the Funders Census
Initiative has launched a wide range of activities. They have established a Web site for Funders to share information and ideas and
best practices; organized conference calls, Webinars for Funders
and their grantees; coordinated Funders and grantee activity with
the Census Bureau; analyzed the distribution of hard-to-count populations; and briefed journalists on several occasions.
Foundations are supporting a Brookings Institution analysis of
Federal programs that allocate funds based in whole or in part on
census data, and this information has proved very useful in helping
local communities understand why the census is important. The
Initiative is also funding development of a free online interactive
mapping tool to help pinpoint hard-to-count areas in every part of
the country.
Foundations have invested millions of dollars in grants to organizations that are reaching deep into hard-to-count communities to
underscore the message that the census is easy, it is important,
and it is safe. Detailed examples of coordinated philanthropic efforts in Illinois, California, Massachusetts, and Long Island are
provided in my written testimony.
Let me highlight here one early and unprecedented effort that
has served as a model for philanthropic investment and census
over the past year. In many ways, it constitutes a best practices
model.
Led by the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, Funders formed the
Illinois 2010 Census Initiative and raised over $1.2 million. They
launched a Count Me In campaign. In late summer, following an
RFP process, the collaborative announced 26 grants focused on
boosting census response rates in the States hard-to-count communities.
The Census Bureau is working hard, but they cannot accomplish
their goal of a fair and accurate census in isolation. Census messages often resonate best when they are conveyed by trusted voices
and through known organizations, and these are often grassroots,
non-profit organizations. But these non-profit organizations need
resources to fulfill this role. This is funding that the Census Bureau does not provide, and State and local governments cannot provide in sufficient amounts, particularly in these recessionary times.
Philanthropy has helped fill this resource gap.
Let me close with three recommendations as we look to our 2020
census and beyond. First, that the Census Bureau should look beyond Complete Count Committees in ways to engage local communities in the census; second, that Congress should examine ways
for the Census Bureau and the Federal Government broadly to provide financial resources for non-profit organizations engaged in census outreach, perhaps through a public-private partnership with
philanthropy; and, third, recommend that the Census Bureau continue its partnership program throughout the decade to keep lines
of communication open.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts about philanthropys role in supporting the 2010 census, our Nations largest
and most inclusive civic event. We at FCI look forward to working
with the subcommittee in the future. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. OHare follows:]

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26
Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Dr. OHare.
Now we will hear from Ms. Campbell. You may proceed.
STATEMENT OF MELANIE CAMPBELL

Ms. CAMPBELL. Thank you Chairman Clay, for your leadership

and for this opportunity to submit written and verbal testimony on
behalf of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, as
well as our Unity Diaspora Coalition [UDC].
The Unity Diaspora Coalition is an unprecedented network of organizations working together in Black communities made up of African-Americans, African, Caribbean, and Afro-Latino leadership to
forge a comprehensive agenda that includes: promoting, motivating, and mobilizing the Black population to fully participate in the
2010 decennial census; two, to advocate for a complete and accurate decennial 2010 census count; targeted efforts to protect the political power of the increasing numbers of those displaced by disaster and economic dislocation which are disproportionately Black
and low income; ensuring equitable redistricting plans in key
States with significant Black populations; and advocating for critical changes in the 2010 census, including adding country of origin
for the Black population and changing methods of counting prisoners.
Historically, the Census Bureau has under-counted Americas
most vulnerable population groups, including racial minorities, immigrants, children, and the poor, leading to inequality for political
power, access to publicity, publically supported services and private
sector investment in communities where these population groups
live and work.
The Census Bureau openly acknowledges it has to develop partnerships with the community-based groups to reach out to these
and other hard-to-count populations. Effective partnerships can
help address these looming factors in 2010 outreach efforts: the significant growth of hard-to-count populations, escalating fear of government in immigrant communities, and displacement of families
due to the housing economic crisis and natural disasters, such as
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Further, the current economic crisis has added a new challenge,
as my colleague just mentioned, and one of the things that we
know that we have a concern about is the fact that, Congressman,
I spent a lot of years in Atlanta, GA with the late Maynard Jacksons administration. For the 1990 census I was living in Atlanta
and in 2000 was here, and many times the city governments would
augment what happens, and that is not happening in many cases
because of what is going on with the economy. So for the Black
population, which is the hardest to count population of all demographic groups, yet the Blacks have accepted collectively that many
of my colleagues are really not getting the kind of resources that
we know we need to try to help augment that. So we are really,
really glad that you have the philanthropic community here and
really working with them to try to help bridge some of the gaps in
resources for our community.
The Unity Diaspora Coalition is made up of several key Black organizations. The national coalition is the convener; it is made up
of the NAACP, the National Urban League, we have the Practice

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Project, Fair Count, Fair Share, and many, many other organizations that are listed within my written testimony. The Coalition,
with our partners, are currently serving as effective national community partners for the Census Bureaumany of us are national
partners alreadyand have preexisting relationships and networks
in the Black communities.
I want to thank you, Congressman. I think it was March 2009
that you came and hosted us for our census summit, as well as the
Praxis Project hosted an organizing meeting in September 2009.
And from both of those discussions and many of the meetings we
have been having to try to organize a cohesive coalition, we have
three main recommendations. One falls under 2010 census partnership program. Many of the Census Bureaus national local partners
are not-for-profits. We have small budgets and have been adversely
affected by the economic downturn, and we believe the Census Bureau should encourage reasonable allocation of resources to national partners.
Recommendations that we also have for foundations and corporate funders include: linking historically under-counted groups to
other funders; funding viral media campaigns; funding Black organizations and community organizing efforts for long-term impact;
identify non-cash assistance such as offering groups techs and technology support.
A couple other things. I know I am almost at my time, but I
think it is really important. You asked us to talk about forming effective partnerships and Complete Count Committees. One of the
things that we know, the Black population, the diversity of the
Caribbean African community is that we are really encouraging
community Complete Count Committees to make sure, for the
Black population, that it includes African-American, Caribbean,
Afro-Latino, and African populations so that really has a full effect.
And I will wait for the rest of this for questions and answers.
Thank you, sir.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Campbell follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much for your presentation.
Mr. Williams, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF DAVID WILLIAMS

Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Chairman Clay and Ranking Member

McHenry and members of the Subcommittee on the Census for inviting me to testify before you today.
Again, my name is David Williams. I am the director of planning
for Gaston County, NC and also the Chair of the Countys Complete Count Committee. On behalf of the Gaston County Board of
County Commissioners and the Gaston County manager, I will discuss the activities of the Gaston County Complete Count Committee in my testimony. I have kept my written testimony in bullet
form and will instead speak in more detail on those issues.
Gaston Countys philosophy and goal, No. 1, is to achieve an accurate count; count everyone, that includes urban and also rural
areas. We are interested in also increasing response rates. In Gaston County, we have kind of an urban versus rural landscape and
we have a certain amount of population in the urban area and also
in the rural which makes us interested in counting the entire county and make sure we have strategies for both. Our municipal population estimate, according to the latest census, is 126,000; our rural
population estimate now within the city limits is approximately
78,000.
In census 2000, we developed a strategy using the Complete
County Committee, and that committee was primarily made up of
governmental staff. Some of the best management practices that
we used for Gaston in 2000 created a slogan called I Count. We
wanted to personalize this process to make sure that people understand that it wasnt so much about government wanting count; we
needed accurate count. We wanted to make sure we wanted to involve them and they take ownership of the process.
The Gaston County Commission funded approximately $16,000
for marketing to show its commitment to this process. We also used
the LUCA Program, which is the Local Update of Census Address
Program. We examined that process and we discovered that there
were missing addresses, so we had a technical side to it and we
were able to reconcile those addresses and increase our count in
Gaston County.
We have also used our Long Range and Current Planning Program. With comprehensive planning and accounting, we often do
long-range plans. It gives us an opportunity to get out and meet
people and understand the community, and understand those gatekeepers and understand who those folks are. So when we are trying to determine what those hard-to-count areas are, we know the
people to go to because of our Long Range and Current Planning
Program.
We also use our subdivision process. When developments come in
to the county and we know they are large developments, we can
keep an eye in terms of that development, where we are in the beginning, also where we are in terms of build-out. That allows us
to make sure that we are not missing those new developments that
are coming into the county, both urban and also suburban.

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In census 2000, we also created a video called I Count video. We
were able to run that, Mr. Chairman, on our government access
channel in our county, which covers a vast majority of our county
and is seen by a lot of individuals through our county.
Now, for census 2010, being involved in census 2000, obviously,
I have had an opportunity to get some more experience. The census
2010 strategy, again, establishment of a Complete Count Committee. This committee is more diverse than in 2000 because it was
made up primarily of governmental staff. This is made up of the
community.
So we feel like with a diverse committee we are going to be able
to reach out and reach other people. Part of the committee, we
have a technical outreach and diverse special populations managers at the county level so we can understand the system a whole
lot better.
The slogan for this 2010 census is It Counts to be Counted. We
are also going to have a Census Awareness Week. That has been
recommended to begin on February 2010, right before they begin
to send out the census forms.
We are also going to be assessing our response rates in urban
and rural areas, and part of that, in our urban census track, our
lowest response rate was 37 percent; the highest was 76 percent.
In our rural census track, the lowest was 43.5 percent and the
highest was 74 percent. We want to understand what that number
means.
One thing that I always employ to our committee, when we go
out and talk to community groups and we say we missed 36 percent, most folks cant identify what 36 percent is. We want to say
that means a certain amount of people. And what we do is one person, I think, is estimated about $1,000, that is what our community
could lose over a 10-year period. So that is something that we want
to do when we are trying to get the word out; we want not personalize it and make sure that people understand.
Mr. Chairman, if I can yield just a little bit more time, Im running over.
We are also working with our city and county planning directors.
We have a luxury, I guess, of having 14 towns in our county, which
allows us to go out to some of those rural areas to meet with those
planning directors. We also are going to use all governmental
buildings for census questions so people can go out to those centers.
And, again, in closing, we are going to develop another census
2010 video to be shown on local government access channel. We are
going to work with local newspapers and also go out to some of the
corner grocery stores and those types things, get out where the people are. And we are going to have an art contest with some of the
local schools.
So some of the general concerns that we have is just at the urban
and also rural areas are mistrust, and we think the way to do that
and try to remedy some of that is through education and outreach.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Williams follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you for your presentation. One note. Be sure
you use Mr. McHenry in your video.
Mr. WILLIAMS. OK. Yes, sir.
Mr. CLAY. Ms. Cumberbatch, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF YVETTE CUMBERBATCH

Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Good afternoon, Chairman Clay and Ranking

Member McHenry of the subcommittee. My name is Stacey
Cumberbatch, again, and I was appointed on April 7th as New
York Citys 2010 census coordinator. I have over 20 years of experience in public service, philanthropy, and the law. Thank you again
for this opportunity to talk about efforts underway by Mayor
Bloomberg to complement and supplement the efforts of the U.S.
Census Bureau to ensure a full and accurate count of all New
Yorkers.
First, I want to provide an overview of New York Citys population. The challenges of conducting a complete count
Mr. CLAY. Maam, would you pull the mic closer to you? That will
work.
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. OK, now it is on.
I first want to provide an overview of New York Citys population, the challenges of conducting a complete count in a city as
dynamic and complex as New York, and what the city is doing to
help address some of these challenges.
First, as many of you know, New York City is the most ethnically
diverse city in the United States, with a population of 8.36 million
people as of July 2008. Over 3 million New Yorkers are foreignborn. About one-fifth of those folks, about 600,000, have arrived in
New York City since 2000. The top 10 foreign-born populations hail
from the Dominican Republic, China, Mexico, Jamaica, Guyana,
Ecuador, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, India, and Colombia.
While New York City is divided into five boroughs, almost 58
percent of its population, two-thirds of all its immigrants actually
reside in two boroughs, that of Brooklyn and Queens. That is about
4.9 million people.
New York City has the largest Chinese population of any city
outside of Asia. More people of Caribbean ancestry live in New
York City than any city outside of the Caribbean. Over 2.27 million
Hispanics live in New York City, more than any other city in the
United States. New Yorkers of African descent number 1.95 million, more than double the count in any other U.S. city.
More than 200 languages are spoken in New York City, with almost half of New Yorkers speaking a language other than English.
The top five languages are Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Italian, and
French Creole.
So the citys diversity has always been its strength, but it also
poses a challenge to making sure that everyone is counted in next
years census. Recognizing the importance of this, the mayor of the
city of New York created the NYC 2010 Census Initiative.
While the citys population exceeded 8 million for the first time
in 2000, only 55 percent of New York City households mailed back
a completed census form, much lower than the average national
mail-in response rate of 67 percent.

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As stated earlier, Queens and Brooklyn are home to 58 percent
of the citys population, and those two boroughs had actually the
lowest mail-in response rate of all of New York City. In fact, several neighborhoods in those boroughs had response rates lower
than 40 percent.
So we know there are many different reasons why people do not
participate in the census. For example, families living double to tripled up in one family home may fear that information provided on
the census form will be shared with the city agencies, such as
buildings and fire departments. Some people simply dont know
what the census is. Others dont know that this information is important for enforcing civil rights laws, including the Voting Rights
Act. Many immigrants in the city are fearful that their undocumented status might be disclosed to Federal authorities if they
complete a census form.
So the city is trying to undertake a variety of initiatives to try
to supplement, as I said, what the Census Bureau is doing. We are
leveraging our city resources to get the word out, to build the relationships with our community leaders from various sectors.
Some of these initiatives include working with our city agencies,
such as City Planning. We have a mayors Office of Immigrant Affairs, a mayors Community Assistance Unit, the New York City
Housing Authority, and other offices of elected officials to first
identify hard-to-count groups and neighborhoods in the city and try
to work to overcome some of the barriers to participation I mentioned earlier.
We are working with five of the borough presidents offices to create borough-based Complete Count Committees comprised of diverse stakeholders from every community. Three of our five borough presidents have already created those committees. We work
with them; they are comprised of faith-based leaders, communitybased organizations, business leaders, a variety of sectors.
We are using our 311 system to receive inquiries regarding the
census and provide timely updated information to the public. We
have a Web site online, NYC.gov. It is basic information about the
census. It is translated into 18 languages. It also includes maps of
every borough and how those particular neighborhoods did in the
2000 census, as well as pertinent links to other information.
We are working with the Department of Education in New York
City that is 1.1 million children are a part of our educational system, so we are introducing census in the schools.
And I will sum up very quickly.
Our work is ongoing. There are a lot of challenges to conducting
a complete count in New York City given our diversity and our
density, so it really requires really mapping out the city basically
neighborhood by neighborhood to identify community leaders from
all sectors and engage them. We are working closely with the regional Census Bureau, but, as you can imagine, New York City is
very complex and it requires a real on-the-ground effort to get that
word out.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Cumberbatch follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much for your presentation.
Ms. Lemp, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF MERCEDES LEMP JACOBS

Ms. LEMP. Good afternoon, Chairman Clay, Ranking Member

McHenry, members of the subcommittee. It is an honor to be here
today, and I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you
on such a vital issue to Washington, DCs, Latino community.
My name is Mercedes Lemp. I serve as the director for the mayors Office on Latino Affairs here in Washington, DC. The mission
of the office is to improve the equality of life of the Districts Latino
population by providing community-based grants, advocacy, community relations, and outreach services to residents so they can
have access to a full range of human services, education, health,
housing, economic development, and employment opportunities.
The population that is served by the office includes over 50,000
Latinos living and working in D.C., and they account for approximately 1 of every 10 D.C. residents.
As part of our mission is to ensure appropriate resources are
available to the Latino community, the 2010 census is of vital importance to our office.
While Mayor Fenty and the District as a whole have launched
the D.C. Counts Initiative, an aggressive campaign to ensure a full
count of the citys residents, OLA has expanded on this effort
knowing that the population we serve is especially hard to count
and, at the same time, especially in need of the services and resources that will result from an accurate count.
Many Latino families share homes or apartments and may not
all be identified as residing in these shared dwellings. In addition,
they are also more likely to move from place to place and have
short-term living arrangements. Most are lower income, have little
formal education; many have children and speak little English.
Twelve percent of D.C.s population is foreign-born and 50 percent
of the District residents speak a language other than English at
the home.
Washington, DC, has been identified as one of the hardest to
count municipalities. Fifty-five percent of the D.C. census tracks
are designated hard-to-count. With the Latino community, we face
the challenges described above, in addition to a fear of government,
immigration authorities, and a general distrust of government
based on experiences from their home countries.
Starting with our fiscal year 2009 performance plan, the office
included partnering with the U.S. Census Bureau as a key initiative. My staff and I began communicating and working with the
Washington, DC, census representatives in the fall of 2008, and
since then have collaborated in several ways. We have worked with
the Census to help reach out to potential D.C. Latino Census workers; we hosted an employment training and employment tests in
our office, a location the community knows well and is comfortable
with; we have hosted additional meetings and workshops at the office and now in the community as well.
OLA and the census, as partners, have presented at several majority Latino resident apartment buildings to tenant groups about
Complete Count Committees. We have planned a workshop for case

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managers and front-line staff of agencies and non-profits that
served Latinos. A majority of Latino serving organizations in the
city have served the community for many years and are seen as
trusted resources.
We have connected with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute and will partner with them to reach out to Latino student
associations across the city, and are working with Latino churches
through the organization, the Downtown Cluster of Congregations.
Our staff member in charge of educational outreach will focus a
majority of her time for the next few months leading up to April
1st on educating Latino parents, English as a Second Language
teachers and counselors, and setting up Complete Count Committees in Latino majority schools.
Key to our success in communicating is culturally and linguistically appropriate materials. Outreach must be done using culturally and linguistically appropriate messages. Simple translations of materials will not suffice. Information must be developed
specifically for the community, specifically targeting the education
levels and particular situations for the community. With the financial assistance of the census, we created our own materials in this
manner and they are now the centerpiece of our presentations and
census talks we have been holding at community centers, clinics,
schools, homeless service providers, street corners where men wait
for work, etc.
Both the materials and the presentations focus on a few key
items beyond the dates, forms, and other essential information
which is key to our community: the fact that this information will
not be shared with any other agency under penalty of fine and potential incarceration to the census worker, the importance of the
community services they currently utilize being adequately funded
should an accurate count be done, and the importance of taking action through the simple 10-minute questionnaire. We have also
stressed that this is an opportunity to stand up and be recognized
in their new country and they are just as deserving to be counted
and served by their new government as any other U.S. resident.
As partners, OLA and the census have been able to better reach
the community and more effectively deliver the message of the importance of the census. As a trusted member of the community
working with community leaders and front-line workers, we have
been able to give census access based on a trusted relationship that
has been developed over 30 years of working with the D.C. Latino
community.
As director of the office, I also serve on the citys D.C. Complete
Count Committee, in addition to chairing the Latino Complete
Count Subcommittee. The subcommittee includes members of the
Latino Community Development Commission, a commission made
up of Latino leaders from the city, with the mission of advising the
mayor and the office on Latino issues. My presence on the citys
Complete Count Committee ensures that not only is my office focused on reaching the citys Latino community, but that the citys
overall campaign also considers our Latino residents and the best
way to reach them.
Starting a relationship with the census early, working closely
with community-based organizations and front-line staff, using cul-

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turally and linguistically appropriate materials, meeting the community where they are, and ensuring a Latino voice in the citys
overall campaign we hope will lead to a full count of the D.C.
Latino community.
Again, I thank you for this opportunity and want to especially
thank Rita Castillo and Ron Claiborne, both partnership specialists
with the U.S. Census Bureau, for reaching out to us early in the
process and continuing to do great work with us throughout the
process. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Lemp follows:]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much, Ms. Lemp, for your testimony, as
well as the entire panel.
We will now move to the question and answer period. I will operate under the 5-minute rule. I will begin with a panel-wide question.
I have heard from my colleagues that represent rural areas,
some that represent urban and suburban areas, that a lot of Americans are leery about giving information to the Census Bureau for
conspiracy reasons, fearing that they will share this information
with other Federal agencies. What is the best way, in your opinion,
to communicate to people that the information that they provide to
the Census Bureau is confidential? What is the best way to communicate? Anybody on this panel can take a shot at it. We can start
here and just move. Mr. OHare, do you want to offer?
Mr. OHARE. I think one is showing people what the Census Bureau asks for. A lot of people have misunderstandings about what
is really asked on the Census Bureau questions, so making clear
that the kind of information asked is pretty simple and demographically focused is one thing.
The other, I think, is talking about the Census Bureaus record
that, for decades, they have collected this data with very few problems, and I think resting on that record is another way to kind of
enforce this. But I would underscore this as maybe the biggest
problem the Census Bureau faces in 2010, different than 10 or 20
years ago.
Mr. CLAY. Ms. Campbell, do you have any thoughts?
Ms. CAMPBELL. The only thing I would add to that is it also has
to do with who the messenger is in taking that into the community.
I am also a small town girl from Mims, FL. In April I was home
when the person knocked on my mothers door. He was an older
gentleman of a different persuasion, doesnt live in the neighborhood. I happened to be home, just happened to be home for her to
say, well, I thought you saidyou know, I talk to my mother a
lot and, you know, I thought you said people were going to be
hired from the community. Hes not from our community.
So that is going to be very, very important. You keep say trusted
voices, trusted voices. Who are those trusted voices? That is what
is going to be able to break that. The churches are going to be able
to break that. The conversations even our barber shops and beauty
shops, the conversations about what this is, because since 9/11,
quite frankly, there is a lot that has to do with what has happened
with peoples privacy, peoples concern about the government.
There are a lot of things out there.
And I think also government being able to say it, but community
leaders being able to reiterate that this is something you need to
do, and that is why peoplejust like we do with the vote. Why do
I need to vote? It doesnt have anything to do with me. Yes, it
does. It has to do with the kind of message, making sure it is culturally specific and making sure the messengers are people that
our people trust.
Mr. CLAY. Thank you.
Mr. Williams, any comment?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I echo Ms. Campbells comments and I would add to it I think that you asked a great ques-

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tion, and that is the kind of question I think that we, as individuals who work with the census, have to understand. So part of the
reason why, part of our committee, we wanted a technical outreach
manager and an outreach manager, and also a special and diverse
populations manager, because we have urban; and what is done in
urban may be a little different in the rural.
So we have to understand the questions that each area faces, and
sometimes I dont know some areas as hard to count in urban and/
or rural, but we have to find those people who do. And that is the
reason I was saying earlier, through our planning program, we can
get to know who those gatekeepers are, because, like Ms. Campbell
said, if you find out who those individuals are, they may trust that
particular individual, and you have to go through that individual.
Another point is I talk to a lot of my friends, for example, about
the census. It is not that they mistrust; sometimes they just dont
know. So what I do isand they say, David, you know, you are
kind of passionate about this stuff, you know. I say, well, it is important because, No. 1, if you dont return your census form and
if you are not counted, we dont get enough money to fund schools,
hospitals, and roads, for example. We dont get all the money that
we get. So it takes away from our community. So I think when
you personalize it and you connect with that individual, it is kind
of like voting, like Ms. Campbell was talking about. If you dont
vote, it is hard for you to be counted; and if you dont fill out your
form, then do you count?
Mr. CLAY. Exactly. Thank you for that response.
Ms. Cumberbatch.
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. I would echo everything that has been said
so far. It does come down to education, people understanding what
it is, actually seeing the form; that it is not intrusive, that it is confidential, it does not ask citizenship, it does not ask income, two
concerns of most people. Connecting it with the importance of driving Federal funding to our localities for a variety of programs, that
is a way of personalizing it, about schools, roads, etc., having that
conversation. Again, all of this has to be in the context of trust.
Mr. CLAY. Right.
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. And it comes down to the trusted voices and
is ityou know, in New York City, as I said, there are some instances where folks are living double, tripled-up in a one-family
home. That home is only going to get one census form, but there
are three families living there. So those other two families either
have to take it upon themselves to go to a be counted site to get
a form or the one family that is there has to include them on that
form. But that is a risk to them because they are saying, well, who
is going to get this information. Is local government going to find
out that there are two other families that live here and it is really
a one-family home? If I am in a family and I have a sibling who
is undocumented, do I put them on the form? So all of those factors
a person is in a decisionmaking process about what are the benefits
to providing some basic demographic information, and am I really
going to see those benefits, versus is there a risk about something
in my household being disclosed that I dont want someone to
know.

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So, again, it is about trusted voices, enrolling a lot of diverse
stakeholders and leaders in our local communities. You can imagine New York City is very complicated. We are very diverse. We
have to reach out broadly and deeply to get that message out, and
at the end of the day we get the message out, but come mid-March,
when the forms are out in households, that is the call to action,
that is when the real work starts to get people to actually fill it
out and mail it back.
Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that response.
Ms. Lemp, how do we get them to overcome their fear of filling
out the form?
Ms. LEMP. Well, in addition to everything that was said, definitely the trusted voices in the Latino community, that is even
more important; the churches, the non-profits that the community
works with. And I think the message about the value, because you
get this form and what is in it for you; and I know in D.C. the
value per capita for the 2007 allocation of funds was $3,500. So are
you willing to walk away from $3,500 that goes to a concrete example of an organization or a way that it is benefiting that community? So this church or this organization or your school, by filling
out this simple form, it means $3,500.
Mr. CLAY. And with the Hispanic community in some parts of the
country, they are very fearful about even talking to anybody, anyone from Government.
Ms. LEMP. Right.
Mr. CLAY. So what is the best practices there, to send people
from that community?
Ms. LEMP. Absolutely. Absolutely. Right. So a mass campaign on
TV is not going to work, it has to be one-on-one conversations with
those leaders in the community that are trusted, basically what everybody has been saying over and over; and it is really a conversation, me talking to you, it is not even necessarily a poster or a flyer
or whatever that might be; it is really just the one-on-one conversation, I am doing it, you should do it, and this is why.
Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much.
I thank the whole panel for their responses.
Mr. McHenry, you are recognized.
Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you all for your testimony. Lets continue with this discussion here about mistrust of government or distrust, because I have
a constituency where, in the mountains of western North Carolina,
if you are not from that holler, as they would say it, you are not
from here. And that may mean that you grew up 10 minutes down
the road, literally 10 minutes down the road, and you are not from
here. So, you know, you could take that samewhat Ms. Campbell
said, the person who knocked on your door and you say you are not
from here. And we have a panel who obviously all five of you all
are going to answer your census form, and if you are having that
reaction, just imagine those people that have never responded.
So if we could just start from Ms. Lemp, if you want to go from
there and we will just go across the panel. If you can delve in a
little bit more about what are the best practices for Complete
Count Committees so that we can break through that.

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Ms. LEMP. And it is those conversations require Complete Count
Committees because that is the only way, and it has to be Complete Count Committees, again, with the folks that have been dealing with these communities from the beginning. So a perfect example would be, in Washington, DC, there are a lot of non-profits, a
lot of clinics.
Even with health care, a lot of the Latino community doesnt necessarily go to a traditional doctor, they are going to go to the clinics. That is who they trust; that is where they have been. So meeting them exactly where they are. And the Complete Count Committees allow you to have those conversations, spreading the work of
the census throughout these Complete Count Committees and allowing many feet on the ground to have these conversations.
Mr. MCHENRY. It is interesting. Mr. Williams testimony, our discussions before, as head of the planning for the county, you know
where the next subdivision is going in or a semi-complete subdivision that wasnt on the map. What are those secrets that you could
share with people, what you find that works? Ms. Cumberbatch
and we will kind of keep going across. But I am looking for that
something you found that kind of works that we can communicate
to other people.
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Right. I mean, this is helpful because it is experiences from different areas of the country, rural, smaller cities,
etc. You know, New York City is so large, so diverse, and obviously
I have been looking for that magic thing to work in New York City.
Honestly, there is not one magic thing.
The approach that we have taken is to first try to map the city
and understand how the city did in the last decennial census in
terms of mail-in response rate, which is a good indicator on where
there might be some challenges. But then to fast forward and look
at some of the American Community Survey data that recently
came out so we can see where new immigrant groups, because New
York City is 40 percent foreign-born, where they have settled within the city in different communities so that we can anticipate that
there might be some need to really do some serious outreach in
those communities as well.
So that was the first level of kind of analysis. And then trying
to map out, OK, who is working within these communities in terms
of community-based organization, faith-based leaders, elected officials, etc., to go out and speak to them about this is coming up, this
is what went on in the past in the community in terms of mail-in
response rate; here are a lot of new people that have settled in the
area.
What can we do now, early, to come together and bring our resources to leverage them to not only get the word out, but get the
word out in a meaningful way to people, whether that is through
their ethnic media, through ads, whether that is convening town
hall meetings. But it is very labor intensive and it really does come
down to that kind of organizing, mapping it out, and that kind of
one-on-one conversation.
The ad campaigns, newspapers, etc., are all important because
that is an echoing of the message about this is an important thing
to do. But, at the end of the day, people are going to trust because
you have had a meaningful conversation with them about what

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they see in their future for their community and how this connects
to that.
Mr. MCHENRY. Mr. Williams.
Mr. WILLIAMS. I would add everything that has been said and I
would go back to the Complete Count Committee. One thing, as
chair, that I am employing is that the volunteers, they need training and they have to understand. It is one thing to have a volunteer that will do anything that you ask them to do, but if they dont
understand in terms of what community they are going into and
how to approach, then they are probably not going to connect.
So what we are employing is our Complete Count Committee to
understand the landscape of Gaston County, try to understand different communities. Some are connected, some are sprawled, kind
of spread out. May take a different approach. But they have to understand that so we will know what strategy to employ in particular locations.
The one thing I always hit on, again, I hit on earlier, is someone
mentioned a response rate, national response rate was 67 percent.
Now, if I am at the Y and I am playing basketball or working out,
I am talking to one of my buddies, I say, you know, we had a 67
percent response rate. That is more than 50. He might think that
is a pretty good rate, when actually some people didnt get counted,
and that is significant for Gaston County. So when you begin to say
what does 1 percent mean, 1 percent means this in dollars. I think
you alluded to it earlier. One percent means this in dollars. And
when you begin to connect and explain it down to their level, see,
as planners and people that are working with census, sometimes
it is the jargon that we use and sometimes the language. We have
to try to bring it down, and that is one thing we are going to approach. And we feel that if we do that it will make a connection.
You mentioned in terms of language planning. We are going to
use every resource that we have. We will use our GIS system, Geographical Information System; we will use our Building Inspections
Department, not so much for them to go out and do, but tell us
where some tough areas are. We will use our Gaston count, we use
our police department to work with our community groups, community watch groups. They meet frequently, they know their community, and they really watch the community, and they can tell us,
hey, this is going to be a tough area.
So I think it was mentioned earlier it is going to be a myriad approach, but that Complete Count Committee is critical. But you
have to give them the tools and understanding of what they are up
against, so when they go out they are ready to make a difference;
and I think we will be able to do that.
Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you.
Ms. Campbell.
Ms. CAMPBELL. Well, three things. I mentioned in my testimony
that we made sure that we built a coalition that represents the full
Black population, with something that is a little bit more unique,
at least in my experience. So we have the African Federation, for
instance, who is focusing on the African communities, which are
very diverse, and making sure that the Complete Count Committees and what he is doing is, first of all, training folks on the
ground, but also being able to know when do you go have the con-

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versation. In a lot of communities, you may have to have the conversation in the evening. You cant just do it at the church. If people have gathering places, where are those gathering places? When
is the time to have those really, really personal conversations to
really make a difference? The Institute of Caribbean Studies is
leading our efforts in the Caribbean community, and the cultural
specific, knowing when and where is really critical so the Complete
Count Committees are able tothere is no cookie cutter answer.
The other is the Black population, when it comes to the numbers,
is Black men and children 10 and under. So women, make sure
that your Complete Count Committee has a very strong target to
mothers, to women who are the caregivers, even to get to men, because in many cases it is the mother, it is the wife, it is the significant other in the home who is actually the one who is going to fill
that form out.
So it is just making sure that the Complete Count Committees
we have something called the Black Womens Roundtable that is
made up of diverse women. We are utilizing that group to help us
create the messages in local community. But the bottom line is
making sure there is a Complete Count Committee for the Black
population, which is my focus. It is very diverse based on what is
really going on and looking at those numbers in your community
to know that. It is all about relationships, relationships, trusted
voices, and making sure that you target women in a real, real way
to help bridge the gap for the Black population.
Mr. MCHENRY. Dr. OHare.
Mr. OHARE. Let me respond by talking about a meeting that I
was at in North Carolina, and it kind of ties a couple things together here, I guess. In August, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
had a meeting just outside of Raleigh, where they brought together
40 or 50 people from around the State involved in non-profit organizations and grassroots organizations; and throughout the day one
of the things that came up over and over again was the willingness, the eagerness of these groups to work on census issues, but
the lack of resources to do it.
And they are already pressed in so many ways that we all know
about that it was a frustrating experience for all of us because the
will was there but the resources were not. And I think it kind of
underscores what all of us in the Census Bureau knows: what is
really critical in getting people involved in this, getting people to
respond is these local trusted voices and the organizations that
they know.
That brings me to the recommendation I left with, I guess, early
on, is that I hope we can work together to find some way to get
these local groups the resources they need to do this job. I dont
know if it will do it in time for the 2010 census, but I hope we put
it on the agenda for 2020.
Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you.
Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. McHenry.
I would like to ask unanimous consent that one of our newest
Members to the House, Representative Judy Chu of the Golden
State of California, be allowed to sit on the panel today.
Mr. MCHENRY. I have no objection, but the gentlelady is OK to
come a little closer as well. [Laughter.]

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Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that observation.
Ms. Chu, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. CHU. Well, since my things are here, maybe I will just stick
it out here. But thank you so much. I appreciate it, Mr. Chair and
Mr. Ranking Member.
I especially wanted to come to this hearing because I did serve
6 years on the REAC Committee, the Race and Ethnic Advisory, for
the years leading up to the year 2000 census. I know what challenges there are. They are great in terms of trying to combat the
under-count. So I am so glad that you are here and working toward
an accurate complete count for this year 2010 census.
So let me ask this question to Dr. OHare or Ms. Cumberbatch.
California has cut its census funding for outreach to $2 million,
which is a significant decrease from $24.7 million in 2000. I know
that LA City funding has plunged by half. And these are the areas
that are very difficult to count. In fact, LA is the No. 1 hard-tocount population in the country.
Now, I know that in New York Mayor Bloomberg challenged the
census counts and secured $77 million in additional funding for
New York City alone. How was he able to get those funds and what
will be the implications of the lack of funds in California and LA
City?
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Just for clarification, so the city of New York,
the mayor created the NYC 2010 Census Office as an office within
the mayors office, and our annual budget for this census, to help
coordinate the citys activities and work with the regional Census
Bureau, is actually $750,000. I wasnt around in 2000. Different administration. I cant say what it was then, but our budget for this
cycle is $750,000.
We currently have three staff people. I anticipate hiring two
more staff. And then we have a pot of money that we are looking
to figure out the best way to supplement and target either special
events, targeted ad campaigns toward certain areas within New
York City that are hard to count.
Now, I will tell you that, based on our indices, New York City
is probably the hardest to count city in the United States, with almost 71 percent of the census tracks being hard to count; and that
has to do with, obviously, our large immigrant population. We are
the most diverse city, but we are also a city of basically renters,
a lot of singles; all the other indices around hard-to-count.
So two things is, so $750,000 the city has committed directly for
coordination of census activities. But that doesnt speak to the inkind support that we have leveraged in other city resources using
all of our agencies. So using our 311 system, which is our basic information system, using our intranet system, using all the agencies
contracting opportunities.
So many of our agencies contract with CBOs on the ground to
provide social services. So we have used that network to disseminate information to directly enroll them in getting the word out to
their various constituencies. So we havent put a money value on
all that activity, but it is significant.
In addition, the State of New York put aside $2 million for census outreach throughout New York State. They put an RFP on the
street back in September. They are evaluating proposals. Some

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share of that money will go to non-profits on the ground in New
York City doing outreach work. I work with them, share all the
maps about response rate, where ethnic groups have settled so they
can, when they do those funding decisions, do them with some information about where there are going to be challenges.
In addition to that, a number of private foundations of New York
City have gotten together to coordinate some of their funding of
census outreach work. So we are kind of pulling together in these
difficult economic times a lot of different ways to leverage resources
on the ground in these hard-to-count, low response rate neighborhoods to increase the response rate in the first instance, and increase cooperation when folks do have to gocensus takers do have
to go door-to-door to collect that demographic information for those
households.
Mr. OHARE. If I am correct, I think you may be talking about
the challenge New York City made to the population, the post-census population estimates, so they raised the estimate and, therefore, New York City got more money
Ms. CHU. Yes, actually, that is was it was
Mr. OHARE. OK. Well, I think that raises an important point because those estimates, which drive much of the $450 billion that
are distributed each year on census data, are tied to the census
numbers from the beginning of the decade. So if places are undercounted, they get underestimated throughout the decade, and that
is the challenge that New York won and got millions of dollars
more because of it.
Ms. CHU. Right.
Mr. OHARE. I will just mention, though, in California I know
there has been an enormous decrease in the amount of money the
State has made available. I just mentioned that some of the foundations like the California Endowment and the Grant Makers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugee, and the Border Philanthropy
Partnership have pulled together a couple million dollars to try and
fill in that gap, and in my written testimony there are some details
about that, if you are interested.
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. So let me just add. Thank you for clarifying.
One thing about New York City is we have a population division
within our City Planning Department. It is part of an agency, a division. A lot of localities do not have a staff of demographers and
experts to be able to evaluate each year census data that comes out
and to challenge it in terms of whether it is a low estimate or a
high estimate. Similarly, our Population Division is currently engaged in the LUCA Process, the Local Update of Census Address
list, to look at that address list to make sure that it is complete,
there werent deletions or the additions that the city had recommended earlier in the year are included.
So all of those things go to obviously helping us get an accurate
count, the technical aspects of getting an accurate count year to
year. But, again, that is something that the city has always budgeted in terms of a population division from our city tax levy money,
it is notand that is an expertise that has existed in the city probably for the past 40 to 50 years, in terms of a department.
Ms. CHU. Well, it is great that New York was able to put together those sources to be able to improve their count.

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Let me ask this other question that has to do with bilingual
questionnaires. When I was on REAC, I was a big believer and
pushed very hard to have bilingual questionnaires distributed to
areas where people speak other languages, and I was very glad to
see, this year, for this census, that the Spanish language questionnaire is put together and is going to be mailed to places with high
Spanish-speaking populations. But I saw that for the other languagesChinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Russianit is being
translated, but not being mailed, and I think that is a huge deficit.
What can you do to overcome thismy goal would be for year 2020
to change this so that they are mailed, because it is easy to determine where you have such a high population that they are primarily speaking that other language, and, thus, you can do better
outreach for those populations.
This is for anybody.
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Well, I totally agree with you. We actually
know and have up on our Web site from 2000 the top five most spoken languages in New York City broken down by census track. So
you can actually look at a map. Now, it has changed since 2000,
but you can look at the map and you can see where there is a high
density of Spanish speakers or Chinese speakers or Russian speakers, etc. So obviously, yes, it would make sense to say that, yes,
they are mailing the form in Spanish to those census tracks with
a high concentration of Spanish speakers, but they could easily,
looking forward, look at other census tracks and other languages
that are spoken in different localities, particularly New York City,
and mail the form up-front to those households, in English as well;
and that would cut back on the need for a lot of non-profits and
community-based organizations to also then try to get the word out
to those different communities and say, oh, if you need it in this
language, we have it or we can help you get it and you can come
in. I mean, that would be a huge improvement in the process of
conducting the census for 2020, and I would look at an array of
languages, because the data is there. The data is even there in
more up-to-date terms in terms of the American Community Survey. So by the time 2020 comes, we are going to have a wealth of
data from the past 10 years about languages that are spoken by
census track to be able to do a decennial census that really, up
front, deals with some of the language issues.
Ms. CHU. Well, in fact, just to continue along those lines, it is
my understanding that the American Community Survey is not
translated in those same languages.
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. Right. So that is an issue.
Ms. CHU. It is a huge issue.
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. That is a huge issue and that is something
that has to be changed in order to get accurate, and particularly
because it is a statistical sampling of the population. And in a
place like New York City where, as I indicated, almost half of our
population speaks a language other than English, it is a huge
issue. So it does go to the accuracy of all the data that we obtain.
So, yes, we would push for the American Community Survey
being in language based on the information we know about New
York City and all other jurisdictions, as well as helping, then, inform for the decennial census, since those forms are going to be

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mailed to every household, you know, where they should be in different languages or mailed in English and another language based
on the density of foreign language speakers in that particular census track.
Ms. CHU. I just hope that we remember the lessons for this census and push it for the year 2020, because I remember us pushing
this for year 2000. Here we are 2010, but the lessons havent been
fully implemented.
Mr. CLAY. We certainly appreciate the issue that you raise and
this subcommittee looks forward to your activism and interaction
with it. Thank you, Ms. Chu.
Ms. CHU. Thank you.
Mr. CLAY. I now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina
for 5 minutes.
Mr. MCHENRY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know votes are coming up on the floor, so I will try to keep this short.
Mr. Williams, in our discussions you talked about forums with
the Complete Count Committee and then your relationships with
the individual towns and cities within Gaston County. I know others in the room wont find this significant, but we have a county
with 200,000 people in itit is in the top 10 in North Carolina population-wiseand we have 14 different municipalities, which kind
of blows your mind; whereas, one borough of New York is larger
than the population of North Carolina. So we have a little comparison here. But the difficulties of that in terms of reaching out to
these local governments, how do you overcome sort of that divide
of cities and then the rural areas as well?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, Congressman, we have what you call an
Elected Officials Seminar, where all the elected officials in the
county come together quarterly to talk about issues, and I think
Gaston County is doing a good job in terms of trying to build those
relationships from the elected side.
Also, from the staff side, we have started a group called GCAMP,
which the acronym stands for Gaston County and Municipal Planners Group, which is a diverse group of people, of planners, but
also people from affordable housing, housing, police, also from
emergency management. And that group has laid a foundation by
which we can address issues such as the census. So that is how we
work. So when something like this comes about, for example, in
Cherryville or in Mount Holly, for example, we already have that
connection.
So when there are difficult areas in and around those municipalities, they have an urban feel, but they are not as large as Gastonia,
for example, that is the largest municipality in Gaston County, for
example. However, they have a connection also to some of those
rural areas. So we can work through them. Again, it goes back to
who knows the community the best. So we go to those planning directors and that city staff, and they can help us. So that is what
works.
I would mention somethingI dont mean to digress, but something you were asking earlier I think was left out a little bit, and
that is, also, we plan to use the school system. I mentioned an art
contest and I had to kind of go through that quickly. But we see
the school system as an opportunity to involve elementary, middle,

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and high school. So if we can get them involved, hopefully they can
pass that information on to their parents, grandparents, relatives
and say, hey, this is important for us to do.
But the number of towns can be tough in terms of planning and
zoning, having different zoning regulations throughout the county.
We worked on that process of trying to have one, but, at the same
time, we have something such as significant and vital as the upcoming census. Having those guys on the ground, those different
municipalities and those staff on the ground in those areas makes
it a little easier for me, as Chair of the Complete Count Committee,
to make sure that we dont leave areas out, be it urban and/or suburban, rural, etc.
Mr. MCHENRY. Is that one way, working through the school system and working through the kids in getting the message out about
the census, is that a way that you found to break through the language barrier that some in our community have?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I think it will create an opportunity. I think so,
it will create an opportunity to have that discussion, that conversation with school teachers and to talk to their students about the
importance of census. So I think it would offer definitely the opportunity to enlighten their parents about it.
In terms of someone speaking a different language, say the
Latino population, you still may have some differences when the
child goes home to talk to the parent if the language is primarily
Spanish, so we are going to need to work on that. It is not going
to be easy, but I think the school system is still just another tool
that we can use to try to reduce the under-count and increase the
response rate.
Mr. MCHENRY. Absolutely. I certainly appreciate it and I appreciate you all on the panel, Mr. Williams and everyone else on the
panel for testifying. I know some of you are back for an additional
time, but we appreciate your testimony and your assistance, especially with such a vital function of government as the census is,
whether it is a large urban area or rural areas, and everywhere in
between. So thank you for your efforts and we would certainly appreciate any guidance or feedback that you could give this subcommittee to make sure that the census is the best that we have
ever had in our Nations history. Thanks so much.
Mr. CLAY. Thank you, Mr. McHenry.
Ms. Cumberbatch, you indicated in your written testimony that
you have had some interaction with philanthropic organizations.
Have you secured any significant financial commitments and can
you expound in that in detail, what has been the role of philanthropic organizations in enumerating New York City?
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. There are a number of foundations in New
York City that have expressed an interest and put together some
funding to support. They havent announced those grants yet, but
have put together and coordinated their funding to organizations
that are going to do census outreach work.
What the city of New York did in that regard was to host a briefing early on in June of funders in collaboration with those private
funders, a briefing about the census, just basic information. We
had the Census Bureau there, we had community-based organizations that had worked on the 2000 census to talk about some of the

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challenges they had in doing outreach as a first step. So that gathering was a way to try to interest funders in obviously funding
community-based organizations.
Mr. CLAY. This being tough economic times, I would assume it
is a tough sale.
Ms. CUMBERBATCH. This being tough economic times, while many
private funders in New York City said yes, we see this as important, we see fantastic leveragebecause for every person in New
York City that is counted, it amounts to $3,000 a year in terms of
Federal fundingthat their funding is basically flat this year because their philanthropy is connected to the financial market. So
because they have an obligation to current grantees in their ongoing work, whether that be social services, etc., it was hard to supplement, this year, some of those activities of those non-profits to
specifically target census work. So it is a very limited pot.
Mr. CLAY. Dr. OHare, I assume other cities have also come to
you and come to the Foundation to ask for financial support?
Mr. OHARE. Well, the Funders Census Initiative is kind of the
model that has developed these kinds of activities. I think Chicago
and the Joyce Foundation was probably the first to really take on
this kind of mission, where they assembled more than $1 million
from eight funders or so, and went through a process somewhat
similar to New York. The same has happened in Los Angeles and
some other cities. Certainly a move in the right direction. I think
we are all feeling frustrated because the need is so big and our dollars are not nearly enough.
Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that response.
Ms. Lemp, can you expound on your knowledge of a census boycott by some Latino groups and what additional problems does that
create? Please detail your findings and explain what creative tactics your office is utilizing to combat that.
Ms. LEMP. Right. The boycott was something that came out a few
months back, and I have to say that with our contacts in the local
communitiesand connecting, just reiterating the message of this
not being connected to any immigration issues and connecting the
need to be counted to the funds and the resources that the city
would gain from being counted. It really wasnt a big issue also because that message of boycotting was not a message from a local
organization, so it wasnt necessarily a trusted voice in our D.C.
Latino community. So it wasnt a big issue in Washington.
Mr. CLAY. Ms. Campbell, yesterday Census Director Groves and
I, along with St. Louis city officials, rolled out a Census in the
Schools Program. Do you believe this is an effective way to reach
under-counted children? And please be specific.
Ms. CAMPBELL. Oh, very much so. One of the things that I mentioned about targeting women, targeting mothers, targeting caregivers, and not connecting the fact that what I also wanted to say
was what we are focusing in on is developing not justfor coalition
10 years ago, we actually did a poster contest that targeted middle
school, elementary grade school. Now, the younger folks that are
part of our coalitions are saying we have the social networking
now. There are a lot of creative ways for young people to be able
to express themselves in the process. So with the Census in
Schools, working with community-based organizations, as well as

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the school system, the Census in Schools Program, but there are
also opportunities for the community-based organizations to participate. So we are really excited that, as a part of what we are
doing to be able to have young people express themselves culturally
around what does this mean, you know, how I count, if you will.
The National Conference of Black Mayors has an I Count. There
are several folks who have this I Count campaign. We have not
talked to each other. We had a conference call yesterday with our
coalition and two people on the call, who had not talked to each
other but were focusing on Black men and the conference, both had
I Count campaigns. So there is something about I Count and the
change message, especially with the young people being a part of
this change era we are in, to be able to express that. So part of
what we are doing this year is adding a part of our Census in
Schools efforts to utilize social networking, to utilize Facebook, to
utilize the YouTube and all the other social mediums that are out
there for folks to be able to express. So we saw what could happen
in the last election. And that is something that is low cost and people are able to express themselves creatively. And that same 81year-old mother was a school teacher for 50-plus years, so understanding how that impacts and how teachers have an impact on
young lives and the parents, more specifically, is definitely one of
the No. 1 things we are going to be doing.
Mr. CLAY. Thank you so much.
Dr. OHare, did you have something to say?
Mr. OHARE. Yes. Could I add a comment on the Census in
Schools Program, which I wholly endorse, but I think it is important to recognize, when talking about children, which is the Casey
Foundations focus, is that the age group that has the highest
under-count rate based on the 2000 census was preschoolers. Kids
under age 5 had an under-count rate of 4 percent higher than people in their twenties and higher than school-aged kids. So I am
worried that somehow we think we have taken care of all the children under-counting by focusing on school-aged kids, and it is critical to remember that is not the group that is missed the most.
Mr. CLAY. Thank you for that point.
Mr. Williams, I am going to let you have the final word. Have
you interacted with your regional and local census director or your
regional director? Are you familiar with who they are? Have they
come by to visit your Complete Count Committees?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. Chairman, they have. They have come by. We
have a pretty good relationship with our local bureau partnership
specialists is what they are called. They actually came to our first
Complete Count Committee meeting; they made a presentation,
they made all the material, handed that information out.
And, again, in Gaston County we try to set a standard in 2000
with the census, and as a result of it, the Census Bureau felt like
we had done a pretty good job in terms of promotion, so we already
had that relationship built up from 2000. So when this started
kicking off a couple years ago, they were ready to call us and see
what are some of the things we can offer to help them out. So, to
answer your question, yes, we do have a relationship with them.
Mr. CLAY. Very good.

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Let me thank the entire panel for your testimony today and
thank you for attempting to make census 2010 the most successful that this country has experienced. I appreciate your work in
this area.
That concludes this hearing. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 4:22 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

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