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Prepared Statement OF

**Charles Louis Kincannon**

**Director**

**US Census Bureau**

### Coverage Improvement Plans for the 2010 Census

## Before the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives, 

# U.S. House of Representatives

## Field Hearing, San Antonio, Texas

**9 July 2007**

Chairman Clay, on behalf of the U.S. Census Bureau, thank you for
inviting me to testify. Congressman Gonzalez, Congressman Cuellar,
Congressman Rodriguez, I'm very pleased to be in San Antonio and back in
my home state to discuss our plans to improve coverage and accuracy for
the 2010 Census. In the past decade a number of important changes have
taken place both here in Texas and throughout the country. Our nation is
growing and becoming increasingly more diverse. Among the noteworthy
changes over the last decade is the continued growth of the Hispanic
community---our nation's largest minority community. The importance of
this growth cannot be underestimated. In the last census, we noted the
presence of new Latino communities throughout the nation, as well as in
traditional states such as Texas. And the growth of the Latino community
has continued throughout this decade. It is therefore critically
important for the Census Bureau to ensure that our plans for 2010 will
provide accurate data that will be used to create opportunity for
thousands of Latino communities throughout America.

Addressing this challenge is the primary goal of the 2010 Census---that
is our goal is to improve census coverage and accuracy. Improved
coverage and accuracy encompasses reductions in census undercounts,
overcounts, and other errors, such as geocoding (locational) errors.
Today's hearing comes at a key moment in the census lifecycle.
Preparatory field activities for the 2008 Dress Rehearsal and the 2010
Local Update of Census Addresses (or LUCA) program are underway. These
activities will help us to improve the accuracy of the short-form census
count---the count used to apportion the U.S. House of Representatives.

We are optimistic based on the experience from Census 2000 that we can
further improve the accuracy and coverage in 2010. One of the most
significant achievements of the 2000 Census was reducing the undercount
of the nation's historically undercounted communities, including
Hispanics, African Americans, and American Indians living on
reservations. In fact, the final estimated undercount in Census 2000 for
Hispanics was less than one percent (.71), whereas 1990 the undercount
was nearly five percent (4.99). The undercount of African Americans was
reduced from approximately four and half percent (4.57) to less than two
percent (1.84). And the undercount of American Indians on reservations
was reduced from twelve percent (12.22) to less than one percent (.62).
This success was in large part the result of the extraordinary outreach
effort and the efforts of the Census Bureau to assess and meet the needs
of local communities in conducting the enumeration whether we were in
the inner city neighborhoods of St. Louis or the colonias of South
Texas. Working with partners in the nation's hardest-to-count
communities was key to achieving trust and encouraging participation.

We worked with national organizations, including NALEO, MALDEF, LULAC,
and the National Council of La Raza, as well as the faith-based
community and locally elected officials to reach out to the Hispanic
community. And to meet the needs of the hardest-to-count communities,
such as colonias, in addition to outreach, we also used different
strategies in the field. As all of you know, gaining trust from colonias
residents is particularly challenging. To meet this challenge in 2000,
we worked with the state of Texas to identify the areas with colonias.
In addition, we partnered with the University of Texas-Pan American in
Edinburg in developing our enumeration strategies, which included the
use of "update/enumerate" methodology. With update/enumerate, we not
only update the census address list, but we also conduct enumeration at
the same time. (Meaning we do not leave the questionnaires to be
mailed.) We also developed a new strategy, the use of cultural
facilitators---or "promotoras." The promotoras were our partners at the
street level. They accompanied the enumerator, or census taker,
assisting the census taker in gaining access to the community and
encouraging participation. Their assistance was invaluable. For the 2010
Census, we are trying to build on this success and we anticipate using
these or similar strategies.

In fact, based on our experience with past censuses and the plans and
testing developed this decade, we know improvements can be gained
throughout the census process---from address list development to better
response strategies, as well as outreach among the nation's
hard-to-count communities. And it is especially meaningful that we
discuss these activities at a field hearing, because many of our efforts
are focused on operational improvements and better strategies to
encourage participation, ranging from the comprehensive communication
and outreach program to the content of the census questionnaire itself.

In preparation for the 2010 Census, we have conducted extensive planning
and testing, including two national mailout tests and two large-scale
field tests, and we are now integrating planned improvements in the 2008
Dress Rehearsal. Thanks to congressional support, this will be the
best-planned and most tested census in our nation's history. These
efforts, which began shortly after Census 2000, are based not only on
the coverage evaluations, but also evaluations of other census programs.
These evaluations have allowed us to generally characterize both those
population groups missed in the census and those counted in error. Among
those populations groups missed or undercounted are children, especially
young children; adult African American males; recent immigrants; and
persons living in large households, complex households, or in group
quarters. Those who are counted in error, or overcounted, include
college students and persons with multiple residences, as well as
persons living in group quarters.

The Census Bureau's primary objective for the 2010 Census is to improve
coverage to reduce these errors. These strategies encompass operational
improvements and strategies to encourage participation. They are
targeted on eight specific areas.

> *Address List Development*
>
> *Group Quarters*
>
> *Field Activities*
>
> *Processing*
>
> *Response Options*
>
> *Content*
>
> *Residence Rules*
>
> *Language*
>
> *Communications*

Throughout the decade, the Census Bureau has placed a high priority on
improving the accuracy of the census address list (the Master Address
File or MAF). We are working to develop a complete, up-to-date address
list and to identify the best enumeration method to use in every census
block throughout the country. The Census Bureau uses a
"mailout/mailback" enumeration method to obtain responses for the
majority of the country. For these areas, which have city-style
addresses (e.g., 101 Main Street), we rely on the Postal Service to
deliver the census questionnaire through the mail and the respondent to
return the questionnaire. In other areas, we may use "update/leave" in
areas that have non-city style addresses (e.g., Rural Route 202, Box 34,
or a locational reference, such as "white house with green shutters, end
of the road"). With update/leave, a census-taker delivers the
questionnaire to the household and the household can then respond by
mail.

We are working extensively with the U.S. Postal Service to update the
address list twice a year using the Delivery Sequence File. This is a
file maintained by the Postal Service that includes every address for
which they deliver mail. It is a rich resource and we are using this
file to a greater degree than in the previous census. In addition, we
are working with local communities. Many communities have undergone what
is known as Emergency-911 (E-911) address conversions where local
governments have developed a number-street address for emergency
services. While the Postal Service may not recognize these addresses for
many of these communities, we can use these E- 911 addresses to locate
households more effectively.

Similarly, we are also working to ensure we have an accurate, up-to-date
list of group quarters, including college dormitories, nursing homes,
military barracks, jails, prisons, and other facilities. We are working
to improve our methods for identifying, locating, and enumerating these
facilities. As part of the address canvassing operation, which takes
place in the spring of 2009, we are including group quarters. We did not
do this in the past, and our goal is to ensure that we can locate and
properly identify or determine whether the address is, in fact, a group
quarters location. We have also included the group quarters in the
address lists that are being sent later this year to governments as part
of the LUCA program. By including the group quarters, we hope local
governments will verify or update the group quarters locations. This
will help to ensure we have an accurate and complete list of group
quarters, and that none are missed.

Many of the planned coverage improvements are focused at key field and
processing operations. For instance, working for the first time with
handheld computers we are using for data collection, our census takers
will be able to take advantage of GPS technology to locate addresses
much more precisely. We are implementing improved data processing and
questionnaire tracking---we will follow the outcome for each
questionnaire we send out much more closely. The handheld computers will
also improve coverage in other ways. We intend to update the assignments
after the field work begins---something that a paper-based census does
not allow. If we receive a late mail return from a household before
sending the census taker to the respondent's address, we will remove
that household from their assignment lists. This will greatly increase
our efficiency in the field and also help to reduce duplicates or
overcounting.

It is important to remember, however, complete coverage in the census
ultimately depends on participation. To encourage participation requires
a comprehensive approach, encompassing a wide-range of strategies,
including questionnaire content, response options, and outreach.
Beginning with the census questionnaire, we have worked throughout the
decade to minimize respondent burden and encourage every household in
America to respond to the census.

It is also worth noting our efforts to make the short-form census
questionnaire more user friendly. In an effort to obtain more accurate
information, we conducted extensive testing of the wording for the race
and Hispanic origin questions and have made some modifications that
should improve our reporting for detailed race and Hispanic Origin. We
are also providing clearer instructions for the census residence rules.
We have tested a number of options to ensure we get an accurate count of
each and every person, once and only once, at the right place. The
Census Bureau's task is to count every person at their "usual
residence"---where they live most of the time. We are reminding
respondents to include everyone who should be counted. We are also
including additional queries to determine whether a person may also have
been counted somewhere else, such as a college dormitory.

Another important area of outreach is with regard to language. Our goals
for language are to provide effective ways for our nation's diverse
communities to participate and respond to the census. For the first
time, we will mail bilingual Spanish-English census forms to
neighborhoods with higher proportions of people who need assistance in
Spanish. We are also identifying areas throughout the United States
where informational materials in other languages, including language
assistance guides, may help respondents in completing the census
form---which is also available in five languages. We will also encourage
local hiring efforts to ensure we can hire enumerators with relevant
language skills to work in our nation's diverse neighborhoods.

The success of the census will also be enhanced through partnership and
outreach. It is our commitment to work with communities throughout the
nation so each and every person living in the United States is counted
on Census Day. To do so, the Census Bureau is planning a multi-faceted
and integrated communications program to reach every community. As part
of the overall communications strategy, we intend to incorporate the
lessons and successes of Census 2000, which included both paid
advertising and reliance on partnerships. The goals of the 2010 Census
communications program are to increase the mail response rate, encourage
cooperation during the non-response follow-up operations, and to improve
accuracy and reduce the differential undercount. We will announce the
award of the 2010 Census communications contract in early September, and
the first deliverable of this contract will be an integrated
communications plan in May 2008.

One of the most important lessons of Census 2000 was the need to engage
state, tribal, and local governments. The LUCA program is an important
partnership opportunity for every tribal, state, and local government to
review the Census Bureau's address list and to submit either corrections
or additions. LUCA contributes directly to the accuracy of the census.
We have made significant improvements to the program for the 2010
Census, including a longer review period and three participation
options. We sent advance letters to each of the nearly 39,000
governments throughout the country early this year, and we will mail the
official invitations later this summer. Governments will be allowed,
starting this fall, 120 days to review and update the Census Bureau's
address materials. The Census Bureau is also conducting 14 tribal
consultation meetings with federally recognized tribes across the
country. Our mutual goal is to identify ways for the Census Bureau and
the tribes to work better together to ensure the most accurate count in
Indian country for the 2010 Census.

Partnerships, whether they are formed through tribal, state, or local
governments or through community organizations, are important to the
success of the census. These partnerships encourage participation and
help demonstrate the importance of the census to every community.
Partners are often our best ambassadors in hard-to-count communities.

As I mentioned at the beginning, this census is the most planned and
tested census in our nation's history. Our primary goal for the 2010
Census is improved coverage and accuracy. We believe all of these
coverage improvement efforts contribute to this goal, because the census
affects every community throughout America from the historic African
American neighborhood of North Webster in St. Louis to the Frio Heights
colonia in Frio County, Texas. Representative Clay, I can assure you
that the Census Bureau is fully committed to the goal of reaching the
residents of America's communities, especially the hard-to-count.

Thank you for supporting the goals of the census. I would be happy to
answer any questions.