Nonprofits: Help build trust around the 2010 Census!

Statement from NVEN:

Across the country, people have been calling the police, taking to blogs or posting on YouTube to report suspicious characters walking or driving slowly around their neighborhoods knocking on doors.

Those "suspicious characters" are the Census 2010 address canvassers, who you can recognize from their Census 2010 shoulder bags, handheld computers and ID badges. They are coming around neighborhoods in May and June to verify addresses in order to prepare for the 2010 count.

It is critical that we enable the address canvassers to do their jobs effectively, to make sure that people are not missed and funds are not lost for our communities for the next decade.

Nonprofits can help by including in their communications an update that the 2010 Census address count is currently underway, and by reiterating to their constituents that the 2010 Census is:

1. Safe: Data collected in the Census, by law, CANNOT be disclosed. Title 13 is the law under which the Census Bureau operates. The law guarantees the confidentiality of census information, and establishes penalties for disclosing this information. You can learn more about Title 13 here.

2. Important. For every person not counted, a community risks losing as much as $1200 dollars per year over the next ten years (based on 2000 Census average loss per person).

3. Easy. This year the Census form will be just one page and very simple to fill out.

Spread the word!

-The Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network