U.S. CENSUS MONITORING BOARD

U.S. Census Monitoring Board

Congressional Members

4700 Silver Hill Road

P.O. Box 610

Suitland, MD 20752

(301) 457-5080

www.cmbc.gov

email: feedback@cmbc.gov

U.S. Census Monitoring Board

Presidential Members

4700 Silver Hill Road

Suite 1250 – 3

Suitland, MD 20746

(301) 457-9900

www.cmbp.gov

email: comments@cmbp.census.gov

Report to Congress

October 1, 2000

Field Observations from Fifty-One

Local Census Offices
Report to Congress

October 1, 2000

THE U.S. CENSUS MONITORING BOARD

In November 1997, Congress established the eight-member Census Monitoring Board: four members appointed by Congress, four by the President,

charged “to observe and monitor all aspects of the preparation and implementation of the 2000 Decennial census.” The issue is the Census Bureau’s

plan to count over 275 million Americans in 2000 – a process which will

determine both Congressional apportionment and the allocation of billions

of federal dollars.

The members of the Census Monitoring Board welcome your input. Congressional Members can be reached via e-mail at feedback@cmbc.gov. Presidential Members can also be reached via e-mail at

comments@cmbp.census.gov. For more information on the census, or to

download this or other reports, visit our web sites at www.cmbc.gov and

www.cmbp.gov.

A NOTE ON THE REPORT

This is the fourth in a series of joint Reports to Congress. Earlier joint reports were released in April 1999, October 1999, and April 2000, and interim reports have been issued separately by the Congressional and Presidential Members. Additional reports are scheduled through September 2001.
U.S. Census Monitoring

Board

4700 Silver Hill Road

Suite 1240-3

Suitland, MD 20746

PRESIDENTIAL MEMBERS

Phone: (301) 457-9900

Fax: (301) 457-9901

Gilbert F. Casellas

Co-Chair

Cruz M. Bustamante

Everett M. Ehrlich

Lorraine A. Green

Mark Johnson

Executive Director

CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS

Phone: (301) 457-5080

Fax: (301) 457-5081

J. Kenneth Blackwell

Co-Chair

David Murray

A. Mark Neuman

Joe D. Whitley

Fred Asbell

Executive Director

i

October 1, 2000

The Honorable Albert Gore

President

The United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert

Speaker

The United States House of Representatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. President and Mr. Speaker:

Pursuant to P.L. 105-119, the U.S. Census Monitoring Board hereby transmits this semi-annual

report to Congress.

This report summarizes the Board’s observations taken during visits to 51 Local Census Offices

(LCO) throughout the country earlier this year and during the enumeration phase of Census

2000. However, before presenting these summaries, the Board wishes to provide an update of

major census operations and milestones that have taken place since April 1, 2000, including

ongoing Partnership and Promotion Efforts; Recruitment and Staffing; Field Operations; Mailback

Response Rates; Data Capture; Quality Assurance; the Closing of Local Census Office Facilities; and the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation.

Partnership and Promotion Efforts

Earlier reports have noted the Bureau’s efforts throughout the nation to promote census awareness prior to the census; similar efforts also took place during enumeration and Non-Response

Follow-Up (NRFU) to promote participation. Local efforts were specifically directed to traditionally undercounted communities. The LCOs and Partners urged residents, especially those in

hard-to-count communities, to fill out the census form and to cooperate with census takers. The

LCOs contributed to this effort by forming their own partnerships and providing materials to

local and regional governments, community organizations, churches, synagogues, social service delivery agencies, and businesses. The LCOs were also able to take advantage of the

Partnership Agreement between Congress and Census 2000, as Members of Congress encouraged their constituents to participate in the census.

Recruitment and Staffing

Generally, the LCOs were able to recruit qualified workers despite low unemployment and a

strong economy. The Bureau hired and trained approximately 960,000 temporary employees

nationwide in the 520 LCOs. These persons were hired locally by the LCOs and hired primarily

as enumerators, but the Bureau also hired clerks, administrative assistants, and supervisors as a
part of the field operations. At the peak of NRFU, in midMay, approximately 512,000 individuals were on the payroll and as the field operations progressed and ended, the

Census 2000 payrolls decreased significantly.

In addition to hiring hundreds of workers, the LCOs were

directed to pay close attention to the enumeration needs in

their area of responsibility. LCOs were responsible for hiring enumerators with specific language skills capable of

working in linguistically-isolated neighborhoods. The

Bureau’s Census 2000 workforce included at least 5,500

non-citizens—many hired to work in linguistically-isolated

areas where cultural sensitivity was especially crucial to

the completion of NRFU.1

Differential payscales were an important component of the Bureau’s ability to hire enough enumerators. Enumerator pay ranged from $8.25 to $18.50 an hour, depending on the local prevailing wage rate and the local unemployment rate. For example, in New York City the enumerator pay rate was $18.50 an hour; in Chicago the rate was

$15.00; and in Corbin, KY the rate was $8.25 an hour.

Field Operations

Several enumeration strategies were used throughout the country to ensure that local communities were included in

Census 2000: Mailout/Mailback, Update/Leave, Update/Enumerate and List/Enumerate. (These and other terms

are further explained in the glossary, beginning on page 231.)

Eighty percent of the housing units in the country received a questionnaire through the mail as a part of the Mailout/

Mailback operation.2 More than 22 million households were enumerated as a part of the Update/Leave operation—

for these households an enumerator was responsible for delivering the questionnaire, rather than the United States

Postal Service. Just as with Mailout/Mailback, the Census Bureau asked the households included in the Update/

Leave operation to return the census questionnaire by mail.

The other enumeration strategies—Update/Enumerate and/or List/Enumerate—were used far less frequently and

were primarily used in remote and sparsely populated geographic areas and in areas where the Census Bureau

decided not to rely on the mail delivery, such as extremely hard-to-count areas. For the approximately 1.3 million

households enumerated via Update/Enumerate and List/Enumerate an enumerator was responsible for creating the

address list and for collecting the census data at the same time. It is important to note that these strategies were not

used often, but were used in several areas that are considered traditionally hard-to-count such as in the colonias

along the Texas-Mexico border.

Mail Response Rate

The Census Bureau succeeded in halting a 30 year decline in the mailback response rates; 67 percent of the households in the United States returned the census form by mail, internet or telephone. This rate exceeded the 1990

response rate by two percentage points and also exceeded the Bureau’s projected response rate of 61 percent. Each

percentage point represents approximately 1.2 million housing units.

3

 Several states—including Iowa, Minnesota,

Nebraska, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and Ohio—exceeded the national average by at least five percent. Of the 51

ii

Nationwide Hiring Statistics at a Glance

Male 40%

Female 60%

Ages

Under 39 38%

40-65 49%

Over 66 12%

Source: Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Presentation before the Joint

Census Advisory Committee. Prepared by Marvin D. Raines, Associate Director for Field

Operations. (Arlington, VA, April 14, 2000).
LCOs visited by the staff of the Monitoring Board, 39 exceeded the Census Bureau’s projected response rates for

2000. The paid advertising program—the first ever—and widespread participation of community-based organizations may have contributed to this success.

In addition, the Bureau challenged state and local governments to encourage participation and to promote the census

during the mailback operations. Approximately 9,300 governmental units—including five states, 32 tribal governments, 42 counties, and 8,837 municipal governments—met the Bureau’s ‘90 Plus Five challenge and exceeded

their 1990 mailback response rates by five percent.4 For example, California achieved a 70 percent response rate.

Data Capture

Date Capture Centers in Baltimore (MD), Jeffersonville (IN), Pomona (CA) and Phoenix (AZ), using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, were responsible for collecting the data from the census forms. These Data

Capture Centers processed an average of 3.3 million questionnaires per day, totaling more than 23 million per week

during the enumeration phase of Census 2000.5 Questionnaires were returned in six different languages: English,

Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Over 560,000 Be Counted! forms were returned, also in the

six languages.6

Quality Assurance

The Census Bureau stressed several quality assurance mechanisms to the LCOs to ensure the accuracy and quality of

the data. In addition to standard check-in procedures, the LCOs were directed to routinely re-interview or verify

certain cases. At least one of every seven of the housing units completed by an enumerator was re-interviewed.

Every housing unit listed as vacant or non-existent was revisited for verification—nearly 9 million housing units

were revisited to confirm the status of the units.7

These procedures were directed to evaluate the overall quality of work submitted by enumerators and in many

instances found problems that were attributed to unintentional error. The Bureau assured the Board staff that procedures, such as re-interview and verification, were designed to compensate for such error. However, the Department

of Commerce Inspector General’s office investigated allegations of widespread falsification in Hialeah. In order to

correct this problem, the Bureau had to re-enumerate 63,000 housing units in Hialeah. This operation was finished

in late August.

Closing Local Census Office Facilities

The 520 LCOs that were set-up between 1998 and 1999 are due to close by the end of the October 2000.

Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.)

The Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation (A.C.E.) field operations, including 314,000 housing unit interviews, took

place during late summer. The Bureau will, during the next months, compare this data to the data collected during

the enumeration and will make a determination whether the census should be adjusted using dual system estimation.

At this time, the Board is unable to reach any conclusions about the A.C.E. results.

Finally, there remain several key operations before Census 2000 is complete. The ultimate determination of whether

iii
ENDNOTES

1 Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Presentation before the Joint Census Advisory Committee. Prepared by Marvin D. Raines, Associate

Director for Field Operations. (Arlington, VA, April 14, 2000).

2 Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Decennial Management Division Glossary. http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/glossary.html. (Washington, DC, April 1999).

3 Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Nation Achieves 67 Percent Response Rate in Census 2000,Two Points Higher Than 1990. Press conference

at the National Press Club. (Washington, DC, September 19, 2000).

4

Ibid.

5 Communications Consortium Media Center, Census 2000 Initiative. Census 2000 Initiative News Alert. (Washington, DC, September 8, 2000).

6 Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Census 2000 Updates: Presentation before the Joint Census Advisory Committees. Prepared by John H.

Thompson, Associate Director for Decennial Census. (Arlington, VA, July 28, 2000).

7 Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Census 2000: Quality Counts at a Glance. Press Conference at the National Press Club. (Washington, DC,

September 5, 2000).

iv

the Bureau’s efforts—often formidable—were a success will not be known until the final data are released. However, the Board is willing to note the high level of commitment illustrated by the Census Bureau, LCOs, and especially local communities to Census 2000 and we hope that these observations will contribute to the public’s understanding and evaluation of Census 2000.

Sincerely,

J. Kenneth Blackwell Gilbert F. Casellas

Co-Chair, Congressional Members Co-Chair, Presidential Members

Dr. David M. Murray Cruz M. Bustamante

Congressional Member Presidential Member

A. Mark Neuman Everett M. Ehrlich

Congressional Member Presidential Member

Joe D. Whitley Lorraine A. Green

Congressional Member Presidential Member

CC: Members of the 106th Congress

The Honorable Norman Mineta, Secretary of Commerce

The Honorable Kenneth Prewitt, Director of the Bureau of the Census
v

Transmittal Letter i

Introduction 1

Atlanta Region 3

Hialeah, Florida 5

Tampa, Florida 9

Atlanta West, Georgia 13

Dalton, Georgia 17

Boston Region 21

New Haven, Connecticut 23

Boston South, Massachusetts 27

Burlington, Vermont 31

Charlotte Region 35

Corbin, Kentucky 37

Monroe, North Carolina 41

Conway, South Carolina 45

Nashville, Tennessee (CMBC only) 49

Richmond, Virginia 53

Chicago Region 57

Belleville, Illinois 59

Chicago Near South, Illinois 63

Chicago Near Southwest, Illinois 67

Indianapolis, Indiana 71

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 75

Dallas Region 79

Orleans Parish, Louisiana 81

Greenville, Mississippi 85

El Paso, Texas 89

Harris County Northwest, Texas 93

San Antonio, Texas 97

Denver Region 101

Tucson, Arizona 103

Window Rock, Arizona 107

Denver, Colorado 111

Cheyenne, Wyoming 115

Report to Congress Table of Contents October 1, 2000
Detroit Region 119

Battle Creek, Michigan 121

Detroit West, Michigan 125

Cincinnati, Ohio 129

Cleveland, Ohio 133

Kansas City Region 137

Little Rock, Arkansas 139

Minneapolis West, Minnesota 143

St. Paul, Minnesota 147

Los Angeles Region 151

Compton, California 153

Los Angeles West, California 157

San Diego South, California 161

New York Region 165

Hudson County North, New Jersey 167

Brooklyn South, New York 171

New York North, New York 175

New York Northwest, New York 179

Philadelphia Region 183

Washington, DC 185

Baltimore East, Maryland 189

Altoona, Pennsylvania 193

Philadelphia North, Pennsylvania 197

Philadelphia South, Pennsylvania 201

Seattle Region 209

Modesto, California 207

Sacramento North, California 211

San Francisco Northeast, California 215

San Francisco West, California (CMBP only) 219

Portland, Oregon 223

Tacoma, Washington 227

Appendix 231

Glossary of Terms 231

LCO Organization Chart 236

RCC Organization Chart 237

vi
1

Report to Congress Introduction October 1, 2000

The establishment of 520 Local Census Offices (LCOs) throughout the country was a key component of the 2000 census. This report details the observations by the Census Monitoring Board of 51

Local Census Offices located throughout the country and representing all 12 Census Regions. The

visits were made between March and July 2000.

LCOs engaged in a number of activities before, during and following Census Day (April 1) that

were critical to the enumeration process. To enumerate the nation’s 120 million housing units,

managers and staff of the LCOs conducted various operations including (but not limited to):

• Updates to the Master Address File;

• Outreach and promotional activities with local officials and community

leaders;

• Recruitment of enumerators to go door-to-door where residents did not

receive or return a census form;

• Group quarters and service-based population counts (such as nursing

homes, college dorms, military barracks, etc.);

• Printing of assigned census tract maps;

• Non-Response Follow-Up (NRFU) and;

• Verification of every housing unit an enumerator deleted or found

vacant (known as Coverage Improvement Follow-Up).

Most of the Local Census Offices selected by the Board comprised a high percentage of traditionally undercounted communities, as determined by the Census Bureau’s Planning Database. The

Planning Database used 1990 census data to identify potentially hard-to-count census tracts: tracts

that had low mail response rates; tracts in inherently minority communities; tracts that were linguistically isolated; and tracts in low-income areas. Historically, these factors contributed to a differential undercount during the decennial census.

While Board staff visited primarily urban LCOs, they also visited several offices in rural areas and

one on an American Indian reservation. As a result, Board staff were able to observe a diverse

cross-section of communities around the country. To ensure professionalism and consistency, Board

staff were trained for the interview process and each side of the Board used one set of questions

during LCO visits.

Beginning in March 2000 and continuing through the NRFU period of July 2000, Board staff visited most LCOs three times (each office was visited at least once). Board staff met with Local

Census Office Managers and, occasionally, Area Managers from the Regional Census Center. LCO

managers often volunteered to bring their managers to the meetings such as the Assistant Managers

for Field Operations, Recruiting and Administration. Board staff also observed field work in two

LCOs in each region (24 observations). Each LCO meeting was limited to approximately one hour

and field observations usually lasted at least two hours.

Board and LCO staffs discussed the status of a broad range of operations issues. The Board was
2

very interested in the Hard-to-Enumerate Action Plans (a blueprint of the area’s enumeration challenges), whether or not the LCO had such a plan, and if the local office had worked in cooperation

with local Complete Count Committees in developing the plan.

The LCO visits furnished the Board with a local-level understanding of the preparation and implementation of the Bureau’s enumeration plan. Additionally, Board members and staff met with

community leaders, local elected officials and planning professionals to assess their interactions

with the Census Bureau before and during the process. Some of their observations and comments

are included in the LCO summaries.

At the time of the Board staff’s first visit, LCOs were actively recruiting and training enumerators.

During the second round of visits, Board staff focused on field operations. The Board also expanded its monitoring efforts by observing enumerators as they visited each household and attempted to contact those who did not receive or return a census questionnaire. The third and final

visit took place during the completion of NRFU and the beginning of the Coverage Improvement

Program.

Summaries of each of the 51 LCOs follow, categorized alphabetically by state within each region.

Each LCO report includes a primary fact sheet and separate summaries from the two sides of the

Board. The fact sheets include information on the initial mailback response rate (as of April 18),

the Non-Response Follow-Up workload (number of housing units that did not return a census form),

the LCO type, a geographic description, a pay rate chart and a NRFU enumerator staffing level line

graph.1

The NRFU workload number is fluid because each office continually updated the Master Address

File. The number given is as of April 18, 2000 and should not be considered the final decennial

number. The actual housing unit count for the LCO will not be determined until after the final

census numbers are distributed beginning in April 2001.

LCOs were categorized as Type A, B, C, or D depending upon each office’s methods of enumeration. Type A LCOs were entirely mailout/mailback and contained mainly urban areas that traditionally have been the hardest to enumerate. Type B offices were entirely mailout/mailback, situated in mainly urban and suburban areas. Type C offices were in more rural locales than Type B

offices and conducted both mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration. Type D offices covered the most rural jurisdictions using primarily list/enumerate but may have also included mailout/

mailback, update/leave and update/enumerate areas.2

This report references many of the terms used by the Census Bureau in its operations of the 2000

Census. An alphabetical list of terms used throughout the report can be found in the Appendix,

beginning on page 231, as well as organizational charts of an LCO and RCC office on pages 236

and 237, respectively.

ENDNOTES

1 Mail response rates, NRFU workloads, and pay rates reflect information shared with the General Accounting Office in May by the Census Bureau.

NRFU enumerator staffing levels were obtained from a July 12, 2000 Census Bureau letter to House Census Subcommittee Chairman Dan Miller.

2

See glossary of terms for more complete descriptions of types of enumeration.
3

Report to Congress Atlanta Region October 1, 2000

James F. Holmes serves as Director of the Atlanta Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Atlanta Region and the Local Census Offices in those states

reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Alabama

 Florida: Hialeah LCO; Tampa LCO

 Georgia: Atlanta West LCO; Dalton LCO

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 13,135,236 Housing Units

• 171,142 Square Miles

• 3 States, 293 Counties

• 5 American Indian Reservations

• 2 Tribal Trust Lands for Federally Recognized Tribes

• 1,664 Governmental Units

• 41 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 6 U.S. Senators

• 55 Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• The largest number of housing units among all regions

• Five of the top 20 fastest growing counties between 1990 – 1996

• Three of the top 10 fastest growing counties between 1990 – 1996 are in the Atlanta MSA

• Largest number of LCOs for Census 2000
4
5

Dates of Visits:

April 19, 2000

May 19, 2000

June 28, 2000

August 15, 2000

NRFU Workload

70,982 housing units

Mailback Response Rate

69%

LCO Type

Type B Office (entirely mailout/mailback)

Geographic Description

The Hialeah LCO was located in the Lago Plaza at 2750 West 68th Street, Hialeah, Florida. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 48 tracts, of which 47 (97.92 percent)

were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 167,096 housing units. The Hialeah LCO

covered a largely urban area of Dade County in south Florida. Its HTE areas included the AfricanAmerican community of Opa-Locka and the gated community of Doral, among others. Its population was primarily Hispanic and African-American.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$14.25 $26.25 $21.75 $18.50 $18.50 $10.75

HIALEAH

Local Census Office #2928

Overview

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
6

HIALEAH

Local Census Office #2928

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

During three visits to the Hialeah LCO, the Manager presented a positive picture of office operations to Board staff. However, the Atlanta RCC requested that the LCO re-count some areas beginning in early June. In mid-June, the Commerce Department’s Inspector General (IG) began an

investigation of the office. By late July, the Bureau addressed continued problems by conducting a

complete re-enumeration.

Observations

At first glance, the LCO’s performance seemed outstanding. Recruiting numbers and the NRFU

completion rates were exceptional. The LCO recruited over 12,000 people and finished its NRFU

workload within one month. The Manager told Board staff that he was so successful because he

had front-loaded his hiring (i.e., hiring more than were necessary to complete the enumeration).

At the behest pf the Commerce Department’s Inspector General (IG), the Atlanta RCC required the

Hialeah LCO to re-count 11,000 cases. The IG’s investigation of irregular enumeration procedures

began in June and ended in August. The LCOM maintained that he did not know prior RCC

permission was necessary before his office could attempt closeout procedures.

As late as the Board’s third visit in late June, the LCOM maintained that his office was being

scrutinized by outside oversight agencies because his office was the “best in the nation.” In fact,

shortly thereafter the Manager was placed on administrative leave because of suspicion he authorized shortcuts to complete the count in record time.

The Bureau further addressed ongoing problems by sending one of their best area managers to

conduct a complete re-enumeration. The re-enumeration address list was updated from the original

NRFU workload to include late mail-return adds and approximately 8,000 housing unit adds found

during the first round of NRFU.

Re-enumeration of over 63,000 housing units began in the field on July 28, 2000. Over 700 of the

best enumerators from the four other Miami-Dade area LCOs – Miami South, Miami East, and

Miami-Dade NE – were assigned by crew leader district to match racial and ethnic identities of the

neighborhoods with the enumerator. Enumerators from the Homestead office conducted quality

assurance checks. Nearly 100 enumerators were hired within the LCO jurisdiction to address a

need for more Spanish speakers. These new employees had not worked on any previous decennial

operation. The Hialeah office used a common LCO technique by selecting particularly skilled enumerators to obtain data from difficult non-respondents.

[Continued on page 8]
7

HIALEAH

Local Census Office #2928

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

Unfortunately, the story of the Hialeah LCO is one of mismanagement, corner-cutting, and questionable enumeration tactics in an effort to finish first. Eventually, the management and most of the

enumerators at this office had to be suspended, and the entire LCO area recounted.

Observations

Initially, things appeared to be operating smoothly at this LCO, and it was on track to being the

most successful office in the South Florida, and possibly one of the best in the nation. The LCOM

spoke of their accomplishments and innovative approaches to problem solving. He confidently

predicted that Hialeah would finish “first and best” of all the LCO’s. Early progress reports seemed

to indicate Hialeah was on track to finish first, and was scheduled for early Closeout. In addition, a

good relationship appeared to exist between the CCC and the LCO, and apparently the office actively made efforts to reach out to the community.

Eventually, however, questions arose regarding the success enjoyed by the LCOM and his management team. Reports began to surface from neighboring LCO’s of questionable tactics being employed by the Hialeah enumerators, from shoddy work and cutting corners to outright falsification

of data on questionnaires. This included stories of enumerators, at the encouragement of management, fabricating names and birth-dates in an effort to finish first. These reports eventually resulted

in an investigation of the LCOM and his team by Department of Commerce’s Inspector General

(IG). Shortly thereafter, the LCOM, his managers, and most of the enumerators in this LCO were

suspended.

Following the commencement of the IG’s investigation and the Board’s third visit, the Bureau

brought in an AM from another state (and staff from headquarters) to supervise a total recount of

the entire Hialeah LCO area, using resources from neighboring LCO’s. Shortly after this recount

began, the Board returned to Hialeah, and we were told by the new AM and several other Bureau

officials that the recount was going well. None of the original enumerators hired by the Hialeah

office were being used for the recount. The AM admitted that the Bureau had no contingency plan

for a recount such as this and that they had to essentially devise a method for conducting the operation themselves. They also stated that they regretted the methods employed by the previous management, and denied any explicit or tacit endorsement by the Bureau of the activities in question.

They also denied that the Bureau fostered a “finish quickly at all costs” environment among the

managers.

We have serious concerns about what occurred in Hialeah. The actions of a few individuals set the

tone for the entire office and promoted the haphazard approach and fraudulent activities that took

place.
8

In mid-August, Board staff visited the re-enumeration process in Hialeah. Board staff saw first

hand how the Bureau addressed the problems in Hialeah to ensure an accurate count. The bilingual

crew leader whom Board staff accompanied in the Kendall area was competent and professional,

and no respondent hostility or intense public resentment was encountered.

Finally, local community and political leaders cooperated with the Bureau to achieve a better count,

but their optimism about the effort is understandably guarded. Bureau managers reported their

surprise at the local community’s exceptional cooperation considering the unusual circumstances.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
9

TAMPA

Local Census Office #2945

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 17, 2000

May 17, 2000

June 26, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

56%

NRFU Workload

56,298 housing units

LCO Types

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Tampa LCO was located in the Park Tower at 400 North Tampa Street, Tampa, Florida. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 69 tracts, of which 38 (55.07 percent)

were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 128,621 housing units. The Tampa LCO covered a primarily urban area of Hillsborough County. Its HTE areas included College Hill, Robles

Park and “Suitcase City,” the neighborhoods near the University of South Florida. Its diverse

population included several unique minority communities, including a large Hispanic population.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$11.50 $23.50 $19.00 $15.75 $15.75 $8.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
10

TAMPA

Local Census Office #2945

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Tampa LCO ended on a positive note by significantly increasing and diversifying the applicant

pool and completing NRFU operations on June 12, ahead of the national deadline. In the process,

the office overcame a complete changeover in senior management, the lowest recruiting numbers in

the region, and a rocky relationship with the county government.

Observations

With the changeover in management just before our first visit to the office, we were able to watch

the LCO improve greatly over time. In April, recruiting was at one-third of its goal to select 900

enumerators. We anticipated that the Tampa office would borrow enumerators from another office

to complete their workload.

Instead, by the second visit in May, the recruiting numbers rose significantly. A new and enthusiastic recruiting manager, a pay raise of $1 an hour and free parking for office clerks (a day of

parking costs as much as one hour’s pay) contributed to the improved applicant pool which contained several thousand people. The Manager even thought some of the employees might be sent to

another office to help with their workload.

To reach more than 56,000 housing units during non-response follow-up, the office increased the

number of FOS districts from four to six, shrinking the size of each district by a third. This change

allowed the workload to be distributed evenly. Work was completed early in Suitcase City and

Tampa Heights, two areas identified as HTE.

The local census office manager and the area manager based in Tampa made no secret that relations

with the head of Hillsborough County’s Complete Count Committee were strained. At our community forum in Tampa in June 1999, we saw early evidence of the hard work and community dedication to the census. We even helped facilitate an agreement between the school district and the CCC

to work together promoting the census.

Local community residents offered the LCO excellent suggestions for improving the count in

Hillsborough County, including several proposals that the office incorporated (such as working

with the local housing authority and the local office of the Florida Jobs and Benefits). However, the

local census office is required to conduct the census in accordance with national census standards,

which meant that the LCO could not accommodate some community suggestions. If the Tampa

office conducted the census differently, the ability to compare data with other LCOs, even within

Florida, would have been compromised.

[Continued on page 12]
11

TAMPA

Local Census Office #2945

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Tampa LCO struggled from the start. This LCO was plagued with resignations and terminations of management staff before and during NRFU. The LCO faced challenges in recruiting and

retention of employees, resulting in questionable managerial decisions that may have rushed NRFU

and adversely affected quality control. The fact that the relationship between the LCO and the CCC

was strained at best did not help matters in this office. Eventually, however, it appears that the

scrutiny given this LCO ultimately led to a favorable turnaround.

Observations

To say the office began unsteadily would be an understatement. The LCOM was replaced in December, then on March 2 came the firings of the LCOM and AMR for poor recruiting performance,

followed by the April 17 resignations of the AMA and a FOS — all reported by local media.

During our April 17 visit, about a week before workers were to begin knocking on doors, the office

had hired only 320 of 1,000 enumerators. According to the April 20 final national recruiting report,

the office had tested only 81 percent of the employees it needed and had only 69 percent of its

“qualified” applicants. By our May 17 visit, the office had revised its staffing projection to 800, but

had hired only 575. The enumerator role was not the only unfilled position – LCO-based office

staff, including clerks, recruiting assistants and other support employees also resigned, often because they could not afford parking at the LCO’s facility.

Without enough enumerators, the office’s Area Manager indicated during our April 17 visit that she

would “double up on crews” and “push her people hard” to ensure that NRFU was a success.

Regarding partnership activities, the relationship between the Bureau and the Tampa/ Hillsborough

Consolidated Census Complete Count Committee (the local CCC) was strained. One CCC official

regularly told the Monitoring Board the Bureau failed to reach out to minority communities, failed

to utilize available media resources effectively and failed to involve community leaders in promoting the Census.

Despite facing the challenge of enumerating HTE areas like College Hill, Robles Park and an area

known as “Suitcase City,” the LCOM seemed unable to provide a definitive plan for counting these

places in our April 17 or May 17 visits. Discussions about efforts to reach out to these communities

were generalized and specific results were not provided.

We are concerned with the 60,000 forms returned to the Tampa and Lakeland (LCO #2932) offices

as UAA reported during the April 17 visit. Of those 60,000, the two LCOs were able to redeliver

35,000; others were treated as NRFU cases. Although the majority came from the other office,

7,000 forms were reported as UAA in the Tampa LCO; half of them were redelivered. Reportedly,
12

House Subcommittee on the Census staff was informed that 12,000 forms were considered UAA in

Hillsborough County.

By the third visit on June 26, things appeared to have improved at this LCO. While the LCOM was

not present (vacation), the AM reported that they were at or near 100 percent completion, and that

close out procedures had begun. She also reported that morale in the office was now high, and that

all of the problems associated with the prior management had been resolved.

The Tampa office received more oversight than other LCOs during early phases of Census 2000

operations. In addition to regular Monitoring Board visits, House Subcommittee on the Census

staff interviewed Bureau employees in mid-April.

House Subcommittee on the Census Chairman Dan Miller expressed his concerns in an April 19

letter to Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt, and requested “a resolution to this situation [turmoil and

poor performance] immediately.” In acknowledging Rep. Miller’s request, the Bureau extended

the deadline for filling out census forms from April 14 to April 23 so local officials could hold at

least two scheduled events to count more people.

The Bureau of the Census should be prepared to have the results of Census 2000 in the Tampa

office challenged upon its completion. By early May 2000, Hillsborough County officials were

already preparing to contest the results, based on what one official described as flawed planning

and execution of “every single component of the Census Bureau’s efforts” (Tampa Tribune, May 9).

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

We believe the animosity between this office and the CCC resulted from communication problems

between the two entities. The CCC started very early and in earnest to make suggestions on how to

reduce the undercount. Unfortunately, the local census office was not able to convey the importance of working within the national guidelines. The result was that the LCO did its job, but some

in the community indicated that their good suggestions went unheeded.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
13

ATLANTA WEST

Local Census Office #2948

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 22, 2000

May 19, 2000

June 23, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

54%

NRFU Workload

55,830 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Atlanta West LCO was located in the MLK Federal Building, 77 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta,

Georgia. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 63 tracts, of which 45

(71.43 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 110,214 housing units. The

LCO is primarily responsible for the western part of Fulton County, an area that is approximately

70 percent black (including Haitian and Jamaican), 15 percent White, with the balance Hispanic

and Korean. There are nine colleges and universities in the office’s territory, including Georgia

State, Georgia Tech, Clark, Morehouse and Spelman.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$14.25 $26.25 $21.75 $18.50 $18.50 $10.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
14

ATLANTA WEST

Local Census Office #2948

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The office was able to meet its recruiting and staffing goals and finished NRFU in mid-June, one

week ahead of the RCC created schedule. However, the office experienced unavoidable managerial turnover due to illness.

Observations

The office recruited 6,000 people, hiring approximately 3,000 over the course of operations. The

office achieved considerable success with Welfare-to-Work employees and estimated that 25 percent of the staff were recruited from this initiative. Overall, managerial staff was pleased with the

quality of work the office produced.

The jurisdiction’s mail back response rate was just over 54 percent, slightly higher than the expected response rate. NRFU should have started without delay. However, two LCO managers

resigned due to illness. This caused NRFU to start at a slower than expected rate. On the other

hand, NRFU operations experienced a surge in production when the RCC sent new managers.

Furthermore, a concerted effort by community leaders to inform the area’s census non-respondents

of the importance of census participation enabled the office to finish NRFU operations a week

ahead of deadline.

While the majority of local census operations take place in the field, problems with office facilities

posed challenges. The phone system needed to be changed several times and when Board staff

visited in late June, the office closed due to a water line break in the building.

The Board heard during a public hearing on September 11 of the State of Georgia’s and Atlanta’s

outstanding census outreach. The LCO received much support from the local and statewide Complete Count Committee, the Secretary of State, and the Governor. The Governor recorded a census

PSA and dedicated over $3 million to promote the census.
15

ATLANTA WEST

Local Census Office #2948

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Atlanta West LCO was responsible for an area that is 70 percent African American, a traditionally hard-to-count population, and included nine colleges and universities. This LCO faced difficulties recruiting and a relatively low mailback response rate. Its HTE Action Plan was developed

in conjunction with the other Atlanta LCO.

Observations

The Atlanta West and Atlanta East offices combined to develop the Bureau’s HTE Action Plan to

assist employees in enumerating these areas. Although the office faced many traditional challenges

including areas that were considered hard-to-recruit, those with high crime rates and rural areas

with a large migrant population, the LCOM considered the nine colleges and universities to be the

largest concern. The Bureau’s Special Places enumeration phase was responsible for these schools,

which included Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Clark, Morehouse and Spellman.

Although the office appeared to have an effective HTE Action Plan, we were unable to review it.

During the June 23 visit, the LCOM reported that she had received a phone call from the Atlanta

RCC prohibiting release of the HTE Action Plan to the Monitoring Board.

After a series of managerial changes, a capable manager with previous decennial experience in both

the Detroit and Atlanta RCCs led the Atlanta West office.

Although recruiting was difficult due to high employment in the area, the LCO was successful in

meeting its hiring requirements. The office tested about 6,000 people for enumerator positions, of

which about 4,300 qualified.

Even with a mailback response rate between 55 – 58 percent and a NRFU workload of approximately 55,000, the office was able to complete its operations in a timely manner (by June 16),

suggesting it had put together a targeted, comprehensive plan to count inner city residents.

There were 20,000 forms returned to Atlanta LCOs as UAA, 15,000 of which were in the Atlanta

West LCO (reported during our March 22 visit).

The Partnership Specialist arranged outreach efforts including participation in a local home show,

the census bus tour, Wal-Mart Day, a town meeting, as well as school and church events. Atlanta

Mayor Bill Campbell appeared in public service announcements and was very visible throughout

the process including Census Sabbath, which took place on two consecutive Sundays in March.

CMBC Co-Chairman Blackwell addressed Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Atlanta on March 26.

He was joined by two Atlanta city council members and a representative of the Congress of Na-
16

tional Black Churches.

During the first visit, Monitoring Board staff were informed that 11 QACs had been opened and

staffed with LCO employees and some volunteers. The locations of the QACs were based on the

HTE Action Plan and input from local city council members.

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]
17

DALTON

Local Census Office #2957

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 23, 2000

May 18, 2000

June 22, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

61%

NRFU Workload

100,839 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (include mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Dalton LCO was located at 515 Benjamin Way, Dalton, Georgia. According to the February

2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 105 tracts, of which 10 (9.52 percent) were HTE. According to

the 1990 PDB, there were 190,465 housing units. The LCO is responsible for 11-counties in the

northwestern part of the state, primarily rural in nature and linguistically and ethnically homogenous. However, there is a growing Hispanic community in Dalton.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$9.50 $21.50 $17.00 $13.75 $13.75 $7.25

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
18

DALTON

Local Census Office #2957

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The LCOM and the Area Manager seemed highly competent and worked well together. The LCO

was responsible for 11 counties which contain a majority white population. Whitefield County,

however, has pockets of an agricultural seasonal Hispanic population. The LCO’s greatest challenges were to enumerate this migrant community and fast growing housing developments in Catoosa

and Bartow counties.

Observations

Managers met some of their enumeration challenges by hiring 17 Hispanics, including six bilingual

recruiters. Field managers were especially proud of the attention they were able to generate from

Hispanic media in Whitfield County. The office benefited from thorough outreach, strong support

from a detail-oriented CCC, and close cooperation with three local Hispanic organizations. The

LCO was able to send the nationally-sponsored census tour bus to area Catholic Churches and WalMarts.

The LCO had a slightly lower than expected mail response rate at 61 percent. The LCOM attributed this to a general belief among white residents that the census was too intrusive. The LCOM

also mentioned that when national political leaders openly encouraged people not to answer those

questions they considered too private, the challenge of completing NRFU in this office increased.

Enumerators also had to contend with an Atlanta radio talk show host who reportedly discouraged

people from trusting the government.

NRFU, which enumerated over 100,000 housing units, was a great success. The LCO finished

these operations on June 10, ahead of the national deadline.

The office surpassed its recruiting goal by more than 40 percent despite a reportedly low level of

unemployment. However, staff turnover posed a continuous recruiting challenge.

Clearly the demographics of the nation are changing. Smaller cities and towns like the ones contained in Dalton’s LCO jurisdiction experienced an increased immigrant population since the 1990

Census. This LCO was able to identify pockets of recent immigrants and work with local community leaders to ensure their inclusion into the census count. The LCOM in Burlington, Vermont

also mentioned the growth of new immigrant populations.

During a public hearing on September 11, 2000, Dalton and the State of Georgia told the Board of

their outstanding census outreach. The Dalton LCO received much support from the statewide

[Continued on page 20]
19

DALTON

Local Census Office #2957

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

Although the office had a small number of difficult census tracts (city of Rome, due to its population density, and Whitfield County, due to its increasing Hispanic population), outreach efforts

appeared to be effective. The one strategy employed by the Dalton office was team enumeration,

which was vital in completing the Close Out phase within 48 hours by using teams of four to five

enumerators. The Bureau refused to provide a copy of the HTE Action Plan and we, therefore,

cannot comment on its contribution to assist the Dalton LCO area in its outreach efforts to traditionally hard-to-enumerate communities.

Observations

The Dalton office appeared to conduct various phases of Census 2000 operations well during several visits by the Monitoring Board. The Dalton Whitfield Chamber of Commerce rallied for the

census, providing staff support to the Complete Count Committee (CCC). The 13 subcommittees

of the CCC, led by the leadership of community organizations like Centro Latino, Inc., reached out

to those populations that, in large part, are responsible for the area’s growth, yet are at most risk for

being missed in the decennial census. If not for the influx of Hispanic workers in the 1990s,

Georgia in general, and Dalton in particular, would have lost business including the carpet industry.

Recruiting efforts met with mixed results. Local companies and churches assisted the office in

identifying bilingual enumerators, many of whom were hired. However, the office had substantial

turnover rates (reported during our May 18 visit as 50 percent the first week, 25 percent the second

week and 10 percent every week thereafter).

The office faced additional challenges from other surveys that took place nearly simultaneously.

For instance, the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) was conducted at the same

time as the decennial operation. The LCOM reported this led to confusion among respondents.

Office staff judged quality control procedures as adequate. Reportedly, only one erroneous form

was discovered (filled out by a teenager not yet 16 years old).

The LCOM of the Dalton office was knowledgeable, well organized and forthright in the various

interviews conducted by the Monitoring Board. He had private sector managerial experience and

maintained a good working relationship with his Area Manager and the community. The LCOM

shared four specific suggestions for the 2010 Census:

1. The AMA needs to have the most training.

2. The AMA needs to be on board one year before any operations start. During that

time, he/she could be working with local media, churches, community leaders,

etc., building working relationships.
20

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

Complete Count Committee, the Secretary of State, and the Governor. The Governor recorded a

census PSA and dedicated over $3 million to promote the census.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]

3. The Automation Technician needs to be a manager. According to the LCOM,

this is one of the greatest assets in the office.

4. The LCOM should be able to work with both the office and the field. Their

background should be in production and should possess good management skills.
21

Report to Congress Boston Region October 1, 2000

Arthur G. Dukakis serves as Director of the Boston Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Boston Region and the Local Census Offices in those states

reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Connecticut: New Haven LCO

 Maine

 Massachusetts: Boston South LCO

 New Hampshire

 New York (Upstate)

 Puerto Rico

 Rhode Island

 Vermont: Burlington LCO

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 9,326,964 Housing Units

• 120,297 Square Miles

• 7 States, 201 Counties

• Responsible for Census 2000 in Puerto Rico

• 18 American Indian Reservations

• 3,176 Governmental Units

• 34 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 14 U.S. Senators

• 48 Local Census Offices, including Puerto Rico

Additional items of interest include:

• Vermont has the highest percentage of rural population of any state (67.8 percent)

• The region is characterized by low unemployment

• Connecticut has the highest per capita income of all 50 states

• Massachusetts is the most “educated” state: 33.5 percent of its population has a bachelor’s

degree or higher
22
23

NEW HAVEN

Local Census Office #2114

Overview

Dates of Visit:

March 30, 2000

May 1, 2000

June 16, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

63%

NRFU Workload

60,174 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The New Haven LCO was located on the fourth floor of the Chapel Square office tower at 900

Chapel Street in New Haven, Connecticut. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan,

there were 83 tracts in the LCO, of which 34 (40.96 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990

PDB, there were 150,212 housing units. The LCO included a major urban area as well as first-ring

and outlying suburbs from Madison in the east to Milford in the west. There were ten cities and

towns. Within the cities of New Haven and West Haven, there was ethnic and linguistic diversity.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$14.00 $26.00 $21.50 $18.25 $18.25 $10.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
24

NEW HAVEN

Local Census Office #2114

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Faring well by acheiving a higher than expected mail response rate at 63 percent, New Haven was

able to collect census data in a timely manner.

Observations

The LCO covers the towns of New Haven, West Haven, East Haven and Fair Haven Connecticut.

In the last 10 years, considerable immigrant population growth occurred among Mexicans, Central

Americans, Vietnamese, and Kosovars. The LCO covers a diverse economic area, including pockets of very wealthy neighborhoods as well as pockets of very poor neighborhoods.

Demolished housing projects in West Haven recently forced a number of residents to find temporary housing with relatives or friends. Some displaced residents could have gone uncounted since

their hosts may have excluded the temporary guests from their census forms. For fear of eviction,

some rental tenants may have excluded from forms any roommates in excess of the tenant/landlord

rental agreement.

The office is located in an area with an extremely low unemployment rate, reportedly 2.2 percent.

The low rate undoubtedly contributed to lower than expected recruiting levels, which eventually

affected workload completion. The office applied for and received funds from the Boston Regional

Office to advertise part time census positions—an effort that provided a recruiting boost. From

time to time, a field operations supervisor would ask for a bilingual enumerator and the office was

able to accommodate these requests from its applicant pool.

The LCO’s mail response rate was high at 66 percent. One half of the 60,000 non-responding

housing units in the LCO’s jurisdiction were concentrated in the City of New Haven. In order to

reach the non-responding households, NRFU operations concentrated early in the areas where Yale

and Eastern Connecticut’s off-campus students live. Furthermore, New Haven’s CCC was able to

help NRFU operations by sending letters encouraging cooperation with census personnel to public

housing building presidents.

The LCOM spoke highly of the local reception to the Census in the Schools campaign. Unfortunately, some materials arrived at schools either too soon or too late.

Paid advertising was a boon to recruiting efforts and to census participation. However, the LCOM

was disappointed that some of the advertising buys could not have been handled locally. This

sentiment was echoed by the Cincinnati LCOM. The manager was well connected with the Hispanic community and was surprised that two popular Spanish-language radio stations in the area

received no buys.
25

NEW HAVEN

Local Census Office #2114

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

In spite of nine of the New Haven LCO’s ten towns having met or exceeded a 70% response rate,

we still have several concerns regarding the effectiveness of some of the LCO’s key operations.

These include hiring difficulties, lack of cooperation with the local CCC and uncertainty about

Reinterview.

Observations

We were concerned about staffing in general at the New Haven LCO. As of the April 20 recruitment report, only 85 percent of the office’s goal had taken the enumerator test, and during the June

16 Monitoring Board visit, only 96 percent of the projected enumerators were employed. The

office’s inability to have met its enumerator-hiring goal slowed NRFU progress in parts of the town

of North Haven. A hard-won agreement between New Haven’s Mayor and labor leaders that would

have permitted city employees en masse to work in support of the Census went for naught, as the

Bureau declined to use these workers.

There did not seem to be a cooperative relationship between the Bureau and New Haven’s Undercount

Committee (the local CCC). Citing Privacy Act restrictions, the Bureau did not furnish information

on advertising buys, QAC locations and NRFU progress to the CCC so they could coordinate the

city’s efforts. An official with the New Haven CCC said New Haven’s leadership was also concerned that inattentiveness in inter-government relations was indicative of poor quality control

procedures throughout.

During the June 16 Monitoring Board visit, the LCOM described an ambitious deadline of June 23

for the completion of NRFU. At that meeting, the office had completed slightly less than 90 percent of its original caseload. Over 6,000 cases remained open and three of six Crew Leaders’

Districts had not begun Final Closeout procedures. In addition, during that meeting, the LCOM

stated his office was far behind other Boston RCC offices in completing Reinterview (only 15

percent) and was unable to comment if this process contributed to quality control.

An unknown number of forms were returned to the LCO as UAA in the North Branford neighborhood of Northford. Reportedly, over 200 Northford residents, who did not receive forms because

of the Post Office Box non-delivery policy, called their state legislator.
26
27

BOSTON SOUTH

Local Census Office #2119

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 13, 2000

May 22, 2000

July 7, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

53%

NRFU Workload

57,569 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Boston South LCO was located at 9 Travis Street in Allston, Massachusetts. According to the

February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 76 tracts in the LCO, of which all were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 116,424 housing units. The LCO is an urban area and is ethnically

and linguistically diverse. The office’s territory consists of eight Boston neighborhoods, including

the area near historic Fenway Park.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$15.00 $27.00 $22.50 $19.25 $19.25 $11.25

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
28

BOSTON SOUTH

Local Census Office # 2119

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Covering some of the most ethnically and racially diverse neighborhoods in Boston, the LCO was

able to successfully promote the census. A higher than expected mail response rate (53 percent)

significantly reduced the workload by nearly 8,000 housing units.

Observations

Notably, the LCO was located just outside the area for which the LCO was responsible. At the

urging of a local state senator and in conjunction with the LCO Manager, the Regional Office

granted permission to open two satellite offices within the LCO’s jurisdiction. The manager reported that these offices were crucial to maintain good relations with the community because the

LCO was not located within its enumeration jurisdiction.

Mattapan is home to a large Haitian immigrant community and the efforts of local community

leaders to encourage their participation in the census clearly paid off. Mattapan was the only neighborhood where the mail response rates significantly improved over 1990.

Facilitators accompanied enumerators to gain access to communities traditionally leery of the census. Facilitators were also effectively used in the Boston South, Denver and Portland LCOs. Both

the Board and the LCOM agree that the cultural facilitator program was effective.

The area manager encouraged the LCO employees to develop a personnel newsletter, “Common

Census.” Pictures and local interest stories about office personnel kept the temporary employees

connected with their jobs and other employees. With a goal of staff retention, the area manager

reported that the newsletter was well received and that employees appreciated the forum to hear and

discuss issues enumerators were facing in the field.

During our visit in early June, the attrition rate was only 25 percent, half of the expected turnover

rate. Both the LCOM and the area manager said the dropout rate was actually lower than 25 percent

because most never appeared for training.

The AMFO reported that “the census is a greater adventure than originally imagined. I’ve been in

mansions, housing projects and condemned housing with 10 folks living there.” Board staff’s

observation of a trilingual Haitian enumerator in the Fenway neighborhood illustrated this diversity. Furthermore, Board staff was impressed with the professionalism and expediency of the enumerator and the cooperation of the respondents.
29

BOSTON SOUTH

Local Census Office #2119

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

This LCO faced a number of challenges. These challenges included low recruitment, low response

rate, and linguistically isolated communities. Compounding to these problems, cooperative efforts

were not successful with the local CCC. The CCC established its relationship directly with the

RCC, eliminating the LCO from much of the census outreach programs normally run in conjunction with local governments. One significant step taken to overcome these obstacles was opening

two satellite offices.

Observations

Boston South LCO was ranked second-to-last by NRFU productivity among the Boston RCC’s 39

offices. This was until workers from the Providence (RI) and Chelsea (MA) LCOs arrived to assist.

These reinforcements, coupled with overtime pay for enumerators during the Final Closeout period, helped the office complete NRFU during the last of week of June, along with the rest of the

country. During the July 7 Monitoring Board visit, when asked about the Closeout phase, the

LCOM stated that his office gave the minimal effort (one final inquiry) to close any remaining

cases.

GSA was unable to locate a suitable facility in the Boston South district. As a result, the Boston

South LCO was physically located outside the LCO’s boundaries, about a half-mile from the Harvard

Business School. Two satellite offices were opened by the LCO. These facilities, designed to

service the office’s three HTE neighborhoods, Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan, helped alleviate

state legislators’ concerns about the Bureau’s commitment to minority communities and aided in

recruiting and generated goodwill. They also served to reduce the amount of time and resources

needed to deliver material to and from the office and the neighborhood.

The Census 2000 mailback response rate tracked closely with the 1990 response rate. The LCOM

asserted that advertising and promotional efforts seemed to make little difference and that there had

been no major demographic changes in the last ten years.

One notable success was the LCO’s outreach to Haitian immigrants and other Creole speakers. It

was successful in increasing Mattapan’s mailback response rate by four percentage points over the

1990 rate.

Normally, a CCC develops a relationship with its LCO. However, in Boston, where the RCC is

located, the CCC established its relationship with the RCC, completely bypassing the LCO. Therefore, the Boston South LCO was unable to rely on this much-needed partnership for HTE assistance.
30
31

BURLINGTON

Local Census Office #2149

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 18, 2000

May 23, 2000

July 6, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

58%

NRFU Workload

107,182 housing units

LCO Type

Type D Office (includes list/enumerate areas and may also include mailout/mailback, update/leave,

and update/enumerate areas)

Geographic Description

The Burlington LCO was located at 543 Blair Park Road, Williston, Vermont. According to the

February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were181 tracts in the LCO, 10 of which were HTE. According to the 1990 Planning Database, there were 271,214 housing units. The LCO encompassed

the entire state, which was primarily rural and ethnically and linguistically homogenous.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$11.00 $23.00 $18.50 $15.25 $15.25 $8.25

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
32

BURLINGTON

Local Census Office # 2149

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Burlington LCO covered the entire state encompassing a diverse geographic area – urban,

suburban, and rural. Populated with the nation’s second highest number of second homes, the LCO

faced the challenge of sorting through an inflated number of non-responding households. While

Vermont remains primarily a racially and linguistically homogenous state, a recent influx of immigrants from Asia, Russia and the former Yugoslavia posed additional enumeration challenges.

Observations

A stable workforce overcame the office’s lower than average recruiting pool. While hiring locally

was a national requirement and a generally effective policy, this seemed to backfire in the Northeast

Kingdom region of the state. Respondents living in this very small community did not want to

share personal long form information with their neighbors. The LCOM reported that many Vermonters were quite conscientious, however, and they made sure to submit their census information.

For example, one woman made a two-hour drive to the local census office to complete her form

with the LCOM.

The national advertising campaign clearly raised awareness of the census in Vermont because the

office received calls from residents confused as to why they had not received their forms in the

mail. Most of Vermont’s residents did not receive a form in the mail while much of the advertising

was geared towards returning the census form received in the mail.

Management was reportedly surprised at the level of anger incited by the long-form. Furthermore,

some Vermonters voiced concern regarding the number of times census personnel contacted them.

Vermont was able to staff its QACs entirely with volunteers. The LCOM felt that the QACs were

effective and should be opened longer. Management also suggested that mobile QACs would work

well in church and library parking lots.

Clearly the demographics of the nation are changing. Smaller cities and towns like the ones in

Vermont experienced an increased immigrant population since the 1990 Census. This LCO was

able to identify pockets of recent immigrants and work with local community leaders to ensure their

inclusion into the census count. The LCOM in Dalton, Georgia also mentioned the growth of new

immigrant populations.

The community made tremendous efforts to build census awareness and had strong support from

the Governor’s office and the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State served as the statewide

CCC chair. Local hero Fred Tuttle, who won the Senate primary against a wealthy businessman in

1996, brought further attention to the importance of the census with several public appearances.
33

BURLINGTON

Local Census Office #2149

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The LCO was challenged by poor intergovernmental relations, as well as frustration on the part of

the LCOM due to the lack of information and resources from the RCC. There was strong support

from the CCCs in the state.

Observations

Census plans are developed at the national level, while implementation occurs at state and local

levels. In Vermont, however, the national plan could not be easily adapted to their situation. For

instance:

• The L/E operation, which served 16 percent of the population, was sched

uled through May 1, however QACs were closed on April 14, a national

deadline that eliminated the QACs with 2 weeks left to go in the L/E.

• The timing of national advertisements led to confusion among respondents

who were not enumerated by the MO/MB operation (almost 67 percent of

the population).

• Baseball players, not hockey players, were used in the ads even though the

nearest major-league team is about 200 miles away.

• The Partnership Specialist had a pager incompatible with the state’s geography.

• FedEx does not deliver to the northeast part of the state. The office was

forced to use courier and other delivery services, which resulted in longer

turnaround time for receiving materials.

In an April 14 letter to Director Prewitt, Vermont’s two U.S. Senators requested additional resources from the Boston RCC. Specifically, Senators Patrick J. Leahy (D) and James M. Jeffords

(R) sought additional supervision at the local office and supplemental funds for a targeted media

campaign. Despite the bipartisan nature of the request, the Vermont Secretary of State informed us

that it was denied. [In contrast, the Philadelphia RCC redirected considerable resources to the

Newcastle Delaware LCO (2313) during the last three weeks of NRFU. That office, responsible for

the entire state of Delaware, faced similar challenges.]

In addition, the Secretary of State received phone calls from enumerators, alleging they were told

by LCO management to “forget about inaccessible areas.” State and local officials are concerned

because they have an overall impression of neglect from the Regional and National headquarters.

The Burlington CCC made dedicated efforts to include refugees and recent immigrants, a rapidly

growing segment of its population.
34

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

The LCOM discussed the many challenges in operating an office that covered the entire state. She

was responsible for implementing the MO/MB, L/E and U/L phases of Census 2000 operations, as

well as the other standard managerial tasks. She expressed frustration with the lack of information

from the Bureau regarding the collection of Social Security numbers and related data, the possible

$100 fine for noncompliance and the large ratio of long form recipients.

Officials with the Vermont CCC were not pleased with the level of support they got from the

Bureau. Citing restrictions under the Privacy Act, the Bureau did not provide timely data, specifically NRFU progress, to support the state’s initiatives.

Some residents in three towns, South Burlington, Williston and Colchester, received as many as

four forms due to confusion created by ongoing conversions to E-911-style addressing.

There were problems caused by the “90 plus five” program and the goals that were established early

for the state. Supposedly, a default goal of 70 percent response was selected for communities that

were not MO/MB in 1990. Unfortunately, that translated into unrealistic estimates being posted on

the Bureau’s web site for ski resorts like Killington, Mount Snow, Okemo and Sugarbush. This

lead to consternation among local officials and drastically affected the overall Initial Response

Rates.
35

Susan B. Hardy serves as Director of the Charlotte Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Charlotte Region and the Local Census Offices in those

states reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Kentucky: Corbin LCO

 North Carolina: Monroe LCO

 South Carolina: Conway LCO

 Tennessee: Nashville LCO (CMBC only)

 Virginia: Richmond LCO

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 12,620,529 Housing Units

• 208,744 Square Miles

• 5 States, 496 Counties

• 4 American Indian Reservations

• 2,278 Governmental Units

• 44 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 10 U.S. Senators

• 50 Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• Second largest number of housing units among all regions

• Highest representation in the U.S House of Representatives

• Largest address listing workload for Census 2000

• More than a 50 percent increase in the number of Hispanics between 1990 and 2000 in NC, SC

and TN

• More than a 60 percent increase in the number of Asian Pacific Islanders in all 5 states

• The percentage of the African American population is larger in NC, SC, TN and VA than the

1998 national average

• NC ranks seventh in total American Indian / Alaska Native population (1990 census)

• The percentage of high school graduates is smaller in KY, NC, SC and TN than the national

average

• The unemployment rate is lower than the national average in NC, SC, TN and VA

Report to Congress Charlotte Region October 1, 2000
36
37

CORBIN

Local Census Office #2811

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 7, 2000

May 18, 2000

June 20, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

56%

NRFU Workload

108,319 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Corbin LCO was located at 103 23rd Street, Corbin, Kentucky. According to the February

2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 144 tracts, of which 66 (45.83 percent) were HTE. According

to the 1990 PDB, there were 210,607 housing units. The LCO was responsible for 24 counties in

southeastern Kentucky, between the remains of the coal mining industry to the north and east and

the tobacco farms to the west. The population, less than 1.5 percent of whom are members of

minority communities, is largely rural and about 80 percent of its households were served by the U/L

process.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$8.75 $20.75 $16.25 $13.00 $13.00 $6.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
38

CORBIN

Local Census Office # 2811

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Corbin office was able to stay on track with its duties and completed its NRFU operations

ahead of schedule. The Kentucky LCO, bolstered by competent management and relatively few

personnel problems, completed NRFU on June 7, 2000—one week earlier than anticipated.

Observations

At the time of our first visit in May, the LCO surpassed its national recruiting goal with an applicant

pool of 8,000. The Corbin office attributed its recruiting success to heavy reliance on telephone

cold calling and “word-of-mouth” advertising.

While recruiting numbers were high, obtaining and retaining qualified staff remained challenging.

Given the type of work required, wages were viewed as low by the LCOM. However, the turnover

rate stayed within national expectations at 50 percent. The turnover rate can be misleading because

a large proportion of the applicant pool never attended introductory training or started in the field.

During our first visit, it was reported that the NRFU workload was approximately 110,000 housing

units — greater than the expected 92,000. In order to combat this escalation, additional staff,

including an extra FOS, was hired. The LCO hired just under 1,000 employees to conduct field

operations.

NRFU operations in Corbin were reportedly difficult due to the rural and sparsely populated nature

of the state. For example, houses can be more than 4-5 miles apart, thus limiting the number of

houses an enumerator can reach per hour. Despite this challenge, the office was able to remain

ahead of the national operations schedule.

The Corbin LCO covered 24 counties. Most of the counties created CCCs and the relationship

between the LCOs and CCCs were good. County judges used their influence to play an instrumental role in promoting the census. Public access TV provided a local perspective to the national

advertising campaign.
39

CORBIN

Local Census Office #2811

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

Three factors made hiring difficult for the Corbin LCO: landscape, demographics and low unemployment rate. However, positive working relationship with the CCCs and assistance from local

elected offices help to overcome these difficulties.

Observations

Poverty, geographic isolation, and irregular housing characterize the HTE tracts. Throughout the

LCO’s region, residents of the Appalachian community and a Spanish-speaking migrant community were reluctant to give information because of privacy concerns and general mistrust of government. These attitudes, combined with sparsely populated, mountainous terrain contributed to the

difficulties for enumeration of this area. However, effective partnerships between the Bureau and

local governments, supported by elected federal officials, solidified recruiting and planning efforts.

Unlike other offices, the Corbin LCO was not required to utilize the entire “Toolkit” to their HTE

plan, but the LCO staff reported those that were used were effective. However, the LCOM and the

office’s Partnership Specialist expressed concern with their ability to enumerate the migrant

workforce.

The office’s recruiting efforts were successful in nearly meeting its overall hiring goal. The LCO

staff reported recruiting difficulty in Laurel County where applicants described wages as noncompetitive. Due to the county’s strong economy, expanding employer base, and 3.6 percent unemployment rate, the LCO struggled to find job applicants.

The LCO staff reported Reinterview was successful in maintaining quality control. Special Places

Enumeration was conducted in late March at a federal prison, five colleges and campgrounds and

marinas. NRFU was completed on June 9. Of all the enumerators hired, only six had submitted

incomplete or false data. After the employees were terminated, work was reassigned and redone by

other enumerators.

The Corbin LCO staff and its associated Partnership Specialist established good working relationships with county CCCs, especially in Bell, Pulaski and Taylor Counties. The chairmen of the

CCCs were instrumental in obtaining cooperation from local media for in-kind contributions. These

efforts included donations of airtime on radio and ad space in newspapers for census awareness and

enumerator recruitment. In addition, the CCCs were helpful in suggesting sites for 17 QACs and

20 other “Be Counted!” sites.

The LCO management staff reported that U.S. Representative Hal Rogers (R-5th) was particularly

helpful to their efforts. In addition to attending the office’s grand opening, Representative Rogers

appeared in PSAs urging constituents to fill out their forms and send them in or complete a “Be

Counted!” form. The LCO staff reported maintaining regular contact with Representative Rogers’
40

district office. Results from the Corbin office demonstrate how valuable the work of elected officials, such as Members of Congress, is to the census.

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]
41

MONROE

Local Census Office #2823

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 30, 2000

May 5, 2000

June 8, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

59%

NRFU Workload

115,380 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Monroe LCO was located at 106 Sunset Drive, Monroe, North Carolina. According to the

February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 111 tracts, of which 84 (75.68 percent) were HTE.

According to the 1990 PDB, there were 216,396 housing units. The LCO was responsible for seven

counties: Anson, Cumberland, Hoke, Richmond, Robeson, Scotland and Union. The population in

several of these counties is largely rural and served by the U/L process. The MO/MB process

serves several bedroom communities outside of Charlotte and Fayetteville as well as several lowincome and minority communities.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$15.00 $27.00 $22.50 $19.25 $19.25 $11.25

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
42

MONROE

Local Census Office # 2823

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Monroe LCO was responsible for operations in seven predominately rural and racially diverse

counties: Cumberland, Union, Richmond, Anson, Robeson, Hoke and Scotland. The office was

able to overcome its lower than expected response rate with sound management to complete NRFU

operations ahead of the national deadline.

Observations

The office was blessed with stable management. At the time of the first visit, the LCOM had been

in charge for more than year and demonstrated a strong command of administrative issues and

operational requirements.

Monroe, like many other offices, faced staffing challenges. Recruiting was especially arduous in

Union and Cumberland Counties, where unemployment hovered at approximately 2 percent. The

LCO had difficulty finding qualified full-time employees. Consequently, the office relied heavily

on part-time staff and hired more enumerators than originally forecasted. In an effort to boost applications, the LCOM proposed placing advertisements in local newspapers. This plan was promptly

approved by the Charlotte Regional Office. The additional advertising effort was further augmented by a 75 cent per hour wage increase for staff and RCC-approved overtime.

NRFU operations began on May 1 and finished ahead of the national deadline in mid-June. As

expected, the office encountered the greatest respondent resistance to long-form interviews. The

office used its best enumerators to work on the harder cases and to follow-up with initial refusals.

Often times a crew leader or FOS accompanied enumerators on post-initial refusal visits. Despite

the best efforts of the field staff, management reported that many respondents were willing to give

only their name and/or other basic information. Additionally, the comments of certain national

political and media figures were thought to have had a negative impact on public cooperation with

the Census. In some instances, respondents even quoted the words of such personalities to enumerators when pressed for more complete information.

Monroe succeeded in establishing 75 QACs within the LCO’s jurisdiction and enlisted the assistance of some 170 volunteers to staff them. The office is to be commended for locating willing

volunteers. Most LCOs around the country were unable to locate sufficient numbers of volunteers

and employed paid clerks to staff the QACs. A contributing factor to the lower than expected

turnout at the QACs was that respondents had to bring their own questionnaires. Management

suggested a central QAC toll free telephone number—that people could call to learn the location

and hours of the nearest center—for the 2010 census.
43

MONROE

Local Census Office #2823

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Monroe LCO faced several challenges, including a high number of HTE tracts and a linguistically isolated Hispanic community. The Partnership Specialists assisted in outreach, particularly to

churches and the use of QACs appeared to be successful in reaching Spanish-speaking residents.

Observations

Among the office’s seven-county area, three-quarters of its tracts were classified as HTE. The

Bureau faced a variety of challenges in each county. For instance, several Hispanic migrant communities were present in Cumberland and Union Counties; Native American communities (Lumbee

and some Tuscarora) in Robeson County; and the Fort Bragg military community near Fayetteville.

In Anson County, and to a lesser extent, some areas in Hoke County, the Bureau faced poverty,

high illiteracy rates and poor 1990 mailback response rates. Mobile home parks in all seven counties and gated communities in Cumberland county challenged enumerators. The LCO management

staff wrote an HTE Action Plan to address its difficult tracts, although the LCOM discussed only

the blitz enumeration strategy that was employed in public housing developments during the weekend of April 29 - 30.

The office’s recruiting efforts met with mixed success. According to the April 21 final national

recruiting report, the office had tested only 88 percent of its goal and 83 percent were considered

qualified applicants. However, during interviews, the LCO staff reported little overall difficulty,

especially in Anson County, where people sought employment due to plant and mill closings. The

LCO staff described wages as competitive.

QACs were especially successful in distributing Spanish forms to the Hispanic community. In fact,

they were so successful that 4,000 additional forms had to be ordered.

Partnership Specialists, one of which was Native American assisted with the Monroe office’s outreach and awareness endeavors. Many efforts were directed to African-American community leaders, including pastors. Several ministers, like the pastor of Elizabeth Missionary Baptist, established testing sites at their churches and regularly promoted the census at their services. The LCOM

reported during the March 30 visit that one of the best community introductions the Bureau had

received was the endorsement by local pastors of Census 2000.

The Monroe LCOM established working relationships with at least five local county CCCs and

described the Cumberland County organization as very active and well organized. The LCOM also

worked with a women’s shelter to ensure that its residents were counted.
44
45

CONWAY

Local Census Office #2860

Overview

Dates of Visit:

April 13, 2000

May 25, 2000

July 7, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

47%

NRFU Workload

92,385 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Conway LCO was located at 1515 Fourth Avenue, Conway, South Carolina. According to the

February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 65 tracts, of which 23 (35.38 percent) were HTE.

According to the 1990 PDB, there were 137,136 housing units. The LCO is responsible for four

counties (Georgetown, Horry, Marion and Williamsburg). The U/L process serves about 60 percent of the population, with the remaining 40 percent by the MO/MB process. About 50 percent of

the population is white, 25 percent Africa-American and five percent Hispanic.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$13.25 $25.25 $20.75 $17.50 $17.50 $10.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
46

CONWAY

Local Census Office #2860

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Management changes at the Conway LCO significantly improved operations, allowing the office to

complete NRFU ahead of schedule.

Observations

This office was responsible for operations in four counties in the Northwest corner of the state:

Horry, Marion, Williamsburg, and Georgetown. It employed two methods (mail-out/mail-back

and update/leave) to enumerate its 65 tracts, 23 of which were categorized as HTE.

The tourism-oriented economy, vast new construction, and the high number of vacation homes and

partial year residents combined to pose unique challenges to Census operations in this section of

South Carolina.

NRFU operations were completed ahead of schedule despite a lower than expected mail back rate.

Further complicating matters, management reported that the comments of certain national media

and political personalities had a general detrimental effect upon public cooperation with Census

operations.

Competition from the robust tourist-oriented economy was cited as the principal reason the office

reached only 90 percent of its recruiting goal. To combat Conway’s difficulty recruiting and retaining sufficient numbers of qualified rank-and-file employees, Horry County workers received a

raise of $1.75 per hour. This pay rate increase appeared to ameliorate some of the staffing strain.

Furthermore, Conway was initially led by a relatively inexperienced management team. Three different LCOMs ran the office within a six-month period. The third LCOM was the original partnership specialist. Operational efficiency improved under her leadership.

Though contact with area political leaders was irregular, overall the office’s outreach efforts proved

successful. The majority of local governments participated in LUCA and expressed satisfaction

with the process. The partnership specialist assigned to the office established particularly strong

relationships with the African-American community. Several area African-American churches

provided QAC space and actively encouraged their congregations to participate in the census.
47

CONWAY

Local Census Office #2860

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Conway LCO was challenged by turnover among the assistant managers. The LCO also faced

difficulties recruiting due to its location in a popular tourist region and the changing housing market. The LCO, however, was strongly supported by local elected officials and CCCs.

Observations

Within the office’s four-county area, including the famous Myrtle Beach resort area, about two

dozen tracts were classified as HTE. The Bureau faced a variety of challenges in each county, but

the one cited most often was pockets of illiteracy scattered throughout. According to one LCO

manager, this may have affected the overall final response rate (approximately 45 percent, but

comparable to 1990’s return rate), as well as the completeness of census long forms.

During our April 13 visit, the LCO management staff reported a 10 percent margin of error in maps

supplied following LUCA, due in large part to houses destroyed by recent hurricanes and storms.

During our May 25 meeting, the LCOM reported 10,000 UAAs, the majority of which were condominiums in North Myrtle Beach, had been hand-delivered, following a directive by the Charlotte

RCC.

The Conway LCO’s largest challenge was in recruiting. According to the April 20 final nation

recruiting report, the office ranked 39 of the Charlotte RCC’s 50 offices, having tested only 69

percent of its goal and obtaining only 58 percent of its qualified applicant goal. The LCO management attributed this difficulty to the area’s large tourism industry. While it was felt that hourly

wages were comparable, many other employers offered year-round employment with the possibility of tips. Like other employers near Myrtle Beach, the Bureau did not reach its hiring goals in

Horry County. Private-sector employers regularly bus their employees into work from other counties. The Bureau countered with a May 28 hourly pay raise for enumerators from $8.75 to $10.50.

There were also substantial changes in management staff throughout the course of our visits to the

Conway LCO. During our April 13 visit, the LCOM reported 100 percent turnover among his four

assistant managers, and he was new as well. By the May 25 visit, the LCOM had been replaced

again.

The Conway LCO staff and its associated Partnership Specialist noted the support that U.S. Representative Mark Sanford (R-1st) provided to the census. Monthly meetings with congressional district offices helped maintain good working relationships. Four local county CCCs and municipal

CCCs in Horry County assisted in awareness and promotion of the census.

Volunteers manned most of the office’s 36 QACs (including at least one per HTE tract), that recorded 139 visits by residents. While there were QACs established in city halls and in the rural
48

communities at firehouses, many of the successful QACs were located at area churches. The LCO

staff noted St. James Cathedral, a Roman Catholic parish serving the rapidly growing Hispanic

community for its successful outreach.

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]
49

NASHVILLE

Local Census Office #2842

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 29, 2000

May 8, 2000

June 15, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

64%

NRFU Workload

93,011 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (include mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Nashville LCO was located in the U.S. Customs House at 701 Broadway, Nashville, Tennessee. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 109 tracts, of which 31 (28.44

percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 229,064 housing units. The LCO, one

of ten in the state, is responsible for the city of Nashville and Davidson County. The HTE areas that

the LCO staff has concentrated on include the neighborhoods with Kurdish, Laotian and Hispanic

populations.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$12.00 $24.00 $19.50 $16.25 $16.25 $9.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
50

NASHVILLE

Local Census Office #2842

Presidential Members’ Summary

[The Presidential Members of the Monitoring Board did not visit the Nashville LCO.]
51

NASHVILLE

Local Census Office #2842

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Nashville office demonstrated how strong recruiting efforts, effective partnerships and support

from elected officials can significantly improve mail response rates and strengthen follow-up planning efforts.

Observations

The city of Nashville had impressive results during Census 2000. The mailback response rate for

the Nashville office was 65 percent, an improvement of nine percentage points over the 1990 rate.

This LCO was ranked second nationally in this category (response rate increase since the last decennial census).

The Nashville CCC and the city of Nashville established good working relationships with the Bureau, although the local CCC was not formed until after September 1999. Members of the CCC,

including community organizations such as the Nashville Public Housing Authority were instrumental in establishing QACs throughout the city, one in each HTE tract. QACs, Be Counted sites

and training facilities were often provided gratis by members of the CCC. Other partners, too, were

notable for their support of Census 2000. For example, Kroger grocery stores provided coffee and

pastries to both the homeless and the enumerators during Special Places efforts, while the Nashville

police department provided plain-clothes escorts during Blitz Enumeration. Management staff of

the Nashville LCO reported U.S. Senators Fred Thompson (R) and Bill Frist (R) were particularly

helpful to their efforts. In addition to general support, promoting awareness, both elected officials

included recruiting and hiring information in constituent newsletters. Results from the Nashville

office demonstrate the value of effective partners, supported by elected federal legislators, in ensuring a successful census.

Within the office’s HTE tracts, the Bureau faced pockets of linguistic isolation in the Kurdish,

Laotian and Hispanic neighborhoods as well as the traditional challenges of enumerating public

housing projects. Though LCO management staff wrote an HTE Action Plan in August 1999 to

address its HTE tracts, neither LCO staff nor the Charlotte RCC provided a copy to the Monitoring

Board for evaluation. The plan was written in cooperation with church leaders, especially those in

the minority communities; the president of Union Planters Bank; area CEOs and Nashville mayor

Bill Purcell.

The office’s recruiting efforts were successful in gaining an effective cross-section of enumerators

throughout the office’s area, especially in the HTE tracts. To recruit in the Kurdish community

(estimated at 4,800 to 8,000 and reported to be the largest in the country), the office established

partnerships with Catholic Charities. However, a local Hispanic leader suggested a more concerted

effort needed to be made in the Spanish-language media in order to reach the estimated 30,000

members of this community and to overcome fear of the census and distrust of the government.
52

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

We are concerned with the 13,079 forms returned to the LCO as UAA reported during the May 8

visit, though all but 831 were redelivered by enumerators.
53

RICHMOND

Local Census Office #2852

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 30, 2000

May 2, 2000

June 12, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

58%

NRFU Workload

40,454 housing units

LCO Types

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Richmond LCO was located in The Exchange Place, at 1313 East Main Street, Richmond,

Virginia. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 71 tracts, of which 55

(77.46 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 94,141 housing units. The

LCO was responsible for the city of Richmond.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$8.75 $20.75 $16.25 $13.00 $13.00 $6.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
54

RICHMOND

Local Census Office #2852

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The LCO’s geographic jurisdiction coincided with the city limits of Richmond. The initial mail

response rate for the LCO was dramatically higher than expected at 58 percent. This reduced the

expected workload by at least 10,000 housing units. With a reduced workload, the LCO was able to

finish NRFU operations ahead of the national deadline by June 14.

Observations

Overall, the management team at the Richmond LCO appeared knowledgeable, highly motivated

and were familiar with all the operational issues raised. Recruiting and training was on schedule

and the field management structure they described conformed to the Bureau’s standards for workload

levels and crew leader/enumerator ratios.

The HTE tracts for 2000 correlated closely with the low response rate tracts of 1990. The LCO

manager reported that these HTE tracts were dominated by large, multi-unit housing structures.

Out of 71 tracts for which the LCO was responsible, 55 were HTE.

This LCO had just over 40,000 housing units to enumerate during NRFU. The LCOM said that

cooperation with census employees was enhanced because of national and local media advertising

and stories. On the other hand, enumerators in Richmond also experienced a high number of respondents answering the door armed.

This LCO initially reported some trouble recruiting applicants from hard-to-enumerate areas. However, increased recruitment advertising in community newspapers, a targeted postcard mailing, and

assistance from the Virginia Employment Commission boosted these efforts.

The LCOM criticized the pay scale for LCO managers and senior staff. He felt there was not

enough of a differential between enumerators and management, and that this was causing some

management retention problems. All the senior managers in the LCO were retired federal/military

employees. Without access to those employees, the LCOM said it would have been impossible to

hire and retain a sufficient number of qualified people.

All enumerators interviewed or accompanied on visits were well-trained and handled each situation

with professionalism. The Richmond office used a common LCO technique by selecting particularly skilled enumerators to obtain data from difficult non-respondents. They were called the “Silver Tongued” enumerators.

The LCOM identified the Richmond Mayor and City Manager as extremely helpful to the LCO’s

efforts, particularly in publicizing the census. The Richmond CCC hosted a dinner for the homeless to help with the homeless count.
55

RICHMOND

Local Census Office #2852

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Richmond LCO faced difficulties recruiting and enumerating the HTE neighborhoods, as well

as the challenge of outreach activities without the help of a Partnership Specialist. Fortunately, the

LCO maintained good working relationships with city officials, who promoted awareness and corporate sponsors, that helped establish at least one QAC in every census tract.

Observations

Almost three-quarters of the office’s tracts were HTE, and to address them, the LCO managerial

staff wrote an HTE plan to assist employees in enumerating these areas. These tracts are predominantly in low-income African-American communities or in areas with high-crime rates. The primary strategy from the Bureau’s “Toolkit” was team enumeration, aided by blitz enumeration in

the worst HTE neighborhoods. The office faced some reluctance in certain sections of public

housing, even during its blitz enumeration.

While the office was reportedly slower than others in meeting its recruiting goals, the staff explained that it had to recruit throughout half the state as an Early-Opening Local Census Office,

delaying its own efforts in a hard-to-recruit urban area. The office’s most notable recruiting story

was an employee’s successful welfare-to-work transition. The office’s AMR noted a female employee, hired originally as a clerk, received several promotions during Census 2000. Her transportation costs were paid by a social service agency.

The Bureau maintained good working relationships with local elected officials and municipal officials, especially in the city of Richmond. The arrangement between the Bureau and the city’s

census liaison was key in verifying HTE and Special Places locations. Richmond Mayor Timothy

M. Kaine made PSAs, spoke at a City Council hearing and appeared on television to promote the

census and raise awareness.

The office exhibited very good cooperation among managerial staff. Without a Partnership Specialist, the LCOM and his managers made many of the typical partnership outreach activities. During

the June 12 visit, the LCOM noted the largest spikes in response and cooperation coincided with his

local television appearances. Corporate partners were vital to the census’ success as well. The 7-11

convenience store chain helped establish a QAC in every one of its Richmond stores. The LCOM

reported this cooperation permitted the Bureau to establish one QAC in every census tract, and in

some tracts, more than one.
56
57

Report to Congress Chicago Region October 1, 2000

Stanley D. Moore serves as Director of the Chicago Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Chicago Region and the Local Census Offices in those states

reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Illinois: Belleville LCO; Chicago Near South LCO; Chicago Near Southwest LCO

 Indiana: Indianapolis LCO

 Wisconsin: Milwaukee LCO

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 10,446,180 Housing Units

• 159,837 Square Miles

• 3 States, 266 Counties

• 11 American Indian Reservations

• 6,413 Governmental Units

• 39 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 6 U.S. Senators

• 45 Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• Chicago is the third largest metro area in the country

• Second largest number of governmental units

• Chicago has the second-largest African American population of all U.S. cities

• Illinois has the most governmental units, nearly eight percent of the U.S. total

• Illinois has the third most highway miles and functional systems

• Wisconsin has the most dairy farms and produces the most milk

• Chicago has the world’s largest population of Polish descent outside of Warsaw, Poland

• Illinois ranked fifth among all states in 1994 direct exports
58
59

BELLEVILLE

Local Census Office #2511

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 11, 2000

May 26, 2000

June 22, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

70%

NRFU Workload

66,371 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Belleville LCO was located at 720 West Main Street, Belleville, Illinois. According to the

February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 109 tracts, of which 29 (26.61 percent) were HTE.

According to the 1990 PDB, there were 204,530 housing units.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$11.25 $23.25 $18.75 $15.50 $15.50 $8.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
60

BELLEVILLE

Local Census Office #2511

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Overall, this LCO performed well. The Belleville office underwent significant management turnover during the NRFU process when two senior managers were replaced in late June. However,

these changes did not appear to affect the LCO’s results.

Observations

Receiving a higher mail response rate than expected, the LCO completed its NRFU workload on

June 12 placing it near the top third of LCOs in the Chicago Region. The authorization of overtime

for weekends during the last two weeks of NRFU combined with the utilization of blitz and paired

enumeration techniques helped this LCO reach its NRFU goals. The management staff of this LCO

is to be commended for a sound job, particularly in light of their management turnover.

The LCO’s recruiting efforts were good, given the area’s reportedly low unemployment (4 percent.) The LCO surpassed its recruiting goal by 76 percent. Most applicants were female, middleaged and sought part-time positions. Once hired, the field staff reflected the general racial and

ethnic makeup of the LCO district.

In interviews with two enumerators, it was clear that they had been well-trained and were knowledgeable about their jobs. In fact, they showed a high level of motivation in completing NRFU

interviews by utilizing multiple information sources such as the county assessment office’s property records and mail carriers. These contacts were made primarily to find some information about

difficult to reach respondents, not to fill out the census form.

Effective quality assurance procedures found 15 enumerators falsified work. The management

staff terminated all the enumerators involved and re-enumerated their entire workload.

Partnership activities in this LCO did not appear to be as extensive as in other areas. In late May,

the LCOM reported little interaction with partnership staff and indicated that their activities were

less helpful than expected. Area CCCs were not especially active. LCO management suggested

that the CCC concept can break down in smaller cities because smaller jurisdictions are unable to

dedicate the resources needed to be effective.

However, the LCOM reported that collaboration between the local school districts and the LCO

was the most effective partnership activity. Churches and utility companies were also instrumental

to local census promotional efforts.
61

BELLEVILLE

Local Census Office #2511

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Belleville LCO experienced high enumerator turnover and struggled to maintain staffing levels

throughout NRFU, especially in the HTE tracts with high crime. The LCO faced other operational

challenges including material delivery inconsistencies, as well as problems with computers and

telephones.

Observations

The LCO’s hiring goal was reached, however, there was little room for attrition. During NRFU, the

LCO was challenged by enumerator turnover in several of the HTE tracts, primarily in locations

with high crime rates. In these HTE tracts, concentrated in one FOS district, the LCO was constantly hiring new employees. The LCOM remarked during our May 26 visit that enumerators

simply did not want to work in these dangerous areas.

During the course of the April 11 Monitoring Board visit, we were given the opportunity to review

some of the methodology in selecting tracts for designation as HTE. However, the strategies that

were provided by the Bureau for addressing those neighborhoods (team enumeration, and blitz

enumeration) were not discussed. After repeated requests, the Belleville HTE Action Plan was

provided by the Bureau’s Field Division, however the late date prevented full evaluation.

The Belleville LCO had established 25 QACs in local high schools and 44 “Be Counted!” sites in

public libraries and US Post Offices, though some were co-located with the QACs. The LCOM

expressed confidence in the series of quality control procedures, like Reinterview, that the Bureau

had put in place to ensure accuracy.

Although it was an ELCO, the office did not seem to have resolved its problems with technology, a

sentiment noted during each visit. For instance, during the April 11 visit, the LCOM noted that

there was only one telephone line available for faxing documents between Belleville and the Chicago RCC. In addition, during our May 26 visit, management staff described a variety of computer

problems that had to be resolved through telephone technical support, rather than a local technician.

The delivery of operational training materials was reported to be inconsistent. According to the

AMA, either too much or not enough material would be received, and often the enclosed materials

were not identified. This meant an employee would have to open all the boxes, rather than one.

The strict delineation of responsibilities enforced by the Chicago RCC between the operational

(LCOM) and community outreach portions of Census 2000 was not considered effective by LCO

management staff. For example, the LCOM was not permitted to communicate with community

leaders to seek their aid in recruiting and the Partnership program controlled promotional material

that could have increased awareness. Reportedly, there were several individuals who had been
62

assigned the government/community partnership specialist position, a position that was responsible for a nine or ten-county area.

Although Monitoring Board staff spoke to enumerators during the May 26 meeting, we did not

observe the employees doing door-to-door enumeration.

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]
63

CHICAGO NEAR SOUTH

Local Census Office #2517

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 22, 2000

May 3, 2000

June 29, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

42%

NRFU Workload

61,782 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Chicago Near South LCO was located in the Grand Boulevard Plaza, 5401 South Wentworth

Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 101

tracts, of which 91 (90.1 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 102,907

housing units.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$15.00 $27.00 $22.50 $19.25 $19.25 $11.25

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
64

CHICAGO NEAR SOUTH

Local Census Office #2517

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Over the three visits to the Chicago Near South Local Census Office, it became clear that this office

was setting the standard for other offices in the Chicago Region, particularly for those with large

HTE populations.

Observations

Out of 101 census tracts, 91 are HTE. Despite the challenges to enumeration, this office was

consistently in the top five of the Chicago Region in reaching all goals throughout the Census

process. It recruited well above its goal and it closed out its Non-Response Follow-Up effort ahead

of schedule.

The LCO Manager possessed sound management and leadership. His insistence on quality, timeliness and accountability created an atmosphere of professionalism and dedication consistent with

the high level of success seen in this office. He is to be commended for his fine work.

Aggressive and successful outreach and promotion activities positively affected nearly every major

aspect of the enumeration process. Designed to boost both participation in the census and employment recruiting, many of these activities focused on the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) buildings in the Near Southside area.

LCO staff worked directly with the leadership of each CHA building to recruit and hire CHA

housing residents. Of particular note, the Chicago South office created housing project specific

posters to promote Census 2000 participation using photographs of actual residents.

The success of this office is best illustrated by the commitment of the enumerators Board staff

observed in the field. Not only were they all well trained, but also they understood the overall

importance of the census to their community and were able to use that knowledge to convince the

residents of this high HTE area to cooperate.
65

CHICAGO NEAR SOUTH

Local Census Office #2517

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

Some of the neighborhoods, particularly Robert Taylor Homes and the surrounding Bronzeville

community, were highlighted by CMBC during a listening tour, and again during a subsequent visit

by Director Prewitt. The Chicago Near South LCO reached its hiring goal, effectively used trusted

third parties to assist enumerators in HTE neighborhoods and maintained good working relationships with the local CCCs and Chicago Housing Authority.

Observations

According to the February 2000 HTE Action Plan, the Chicago Near South LCO had the secondhighest number of special considerations in the Chicago RCC. The most significant Special Considerations were a high number of households receiving public assistance, a high number of persons below the poverty line and high population density.

The Chicago Near South LCOM was hands-on and persistent in ensuring the census was conducted

accurately by the enumerators. A former employee of the Chicago Housing Authority, he knew the

area well and had established effective ties to the community, especially in the hard-to-count Robert Taylor Homes housing project.

While the office staff reported low hiring rates and a low passage rate of background checks during

our March 22 visit, the April 20 final national recruiting report showed that the office had reached

its goal, ranking 21 of the Chicago RCC’s 45 offices. This LCO also experienced a high turnover

rate among office staff due to high employment rate and applicants lacking job-related skills.

The Chicago Near South LCO effectively used local residents as “facilitators” to assist enumerators

in hard-to-count neighborhoods. These trusted persons from the community can help overcome the

suspicion or unwillingness of residents to respond to the census. The office’s neighborhood guides

and tenant captains gained full access to the Robert Taylor Homes units, a strategy that may have

helped lead to greater comfort for the community with the census and may have encouraged cooperation.

The Chicago Near South LCO staff established good working relationships with its CCCs and the

Chicago Housing Authority. In addition, the CCCs were helpful in suggesting sites for 37 QACs.

The city of Chicago and Cook County provided $50,000 and $30,000, respectively, for effective

outreach and promotional efforts. Throughout Chicago, the city also distributed promotional materials at more than 350 stores and restaurants, printed and distributed more than four million fliers,

and recruited 2,500 city volunteers to distribute the fliers at more than 500 events.
66
67

CHICAGO NEAR SOUTHWEST

Local Census Office #2518

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 22, 2000

May 31, 2000

June 29, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

50%

NRFU Workload

68,568 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Chicago Near Southwest LCO was located in the Midway Business Center, 5333 South Laramie,

Chicago, Illinois. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 140 tracts, of

which 116 (82.86 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 125,585 housing

units. Located on the southwest outskirts of Chicago, the crime and other urban problems are not as

severe as in other parts of the city. The diverse community has a large Hispanic, Polish and Lithuanian

population with a smaller population of African Americans and Asian-Americans.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$15.00 $27.00 $22.50 $19.25 $19.25 $11.25

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
68

CHICAGO NEAR SOUTHWEST

Local Census Office #2518

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Chicago Near Southwest Local Census Office was particularly successful in terms of its recruiting and quality control procedures.

Observations

Recruiting locally, the LCO tested over 7,000 applicants. Eighty-five percent of applicants passed

the test. Exceeding its recruiting goal, the LCO reached a recruiting level of over 130 percent.

Managers made clear the importance of accurate data, placing great emphasis on quality control. In

addition to the nationally directed automated quality assurance process, enumerators, crew leaders

and FOSs were told to stringently review all cases before submitting census forms back to the LCO.

Overall, LCO management staff was comprised of high quality employees. Their hands-on approach kept enumerators and middle management staff focused and motivated. They reported

using regular meetings with FOSs and Crew Leaders to maintain a high level of enthusiasm for

progress and new directives and strategies.

The LCOM said that the over-riding theme for this office was that the enumerator is the “most

important person in this process.” Managers worked very hard at cultivating an atmosphere of

“family” among the staff.

Enumerators were most successful during the Memorial Day weekend. The LCOM and his managers brought all the FOS’s and crew leaders in for a meeting on the preceding Friday and told them

they had a goal to complete 10,000 questionnaires over the holiday weekend. They were able to

put 350 people in the field and surpassed their goal by completing 10,900 questionnaires.

The office was aggressive in meeting timelines and goals. As a matter of practice, staff worked to

complete most tasks two weeks ahead of schedule. This approach consistently placed the LCO in

the top third of the region in achieving its various performance goals.

Finally, this office was very conscious of security and confidentiality. Its office suites were secure

and the management staff reported making confidentiality of census information a major priority

for all staff.
69

CHICAGO NEAR SOUTHWEST

Local Census Office #2518

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Chicago Near Southwest LCO illustrates five critical elements needed for an effective census:

(1) having a well conceived HTE plan; (2) the use of Reinterview as a quality control measure; (3)

a cooperative relationship with the local CCC; (4) solid recruitment efforts; (5) strong LCO management.

Observations

The LCO Management staff wrote an HTE plan to address its difficult tracts. While the complete

plan was not provided to the Monitoring Board for evaluation, a document entitled “Census 2000

Challenges & Strategies – Census Tract Counts by LCO” was provided by the Chicago RCC during

our first visit. Managers considered the RCC-provided data to be an accurate reflection of the area

and followed the Bureau’s “Toolkit” strategies to complete the census in the hard-to-count neighborhoods.

Having laid the groundwork early, the LCO did not require neighborhood guides or “cultural facilitators” to assist its efforts in the hard-to-count neighborhoods.

The office’s Re-interview process was effective in identifying questionable or falsified census forms.

According to the LCO Office Operations Supervisor (OOS), the LCO staff found a number of

erroneous forms early in NRFU, investigated and took appropriate action. Initially, the LCO staff

suspected over 400 forms of being falsified, involving approximately 122 enumerators. Upon

review, approximately 100 of the 400 suspected forms were found to have been falsified. The OOS

said that approximately 40 enumerators (no Crew Leaders or Field Office Supervisors) were suspected of and/or terminated for falsification. At that point, work was reassigned and completed by

other employees.

The LCO staff maintained good working relationships with the Cook County CCC throughout the

different phases of Census 2000. The CCC led media promotions and public relations outreach,

prompting residents to apply for jobs and encouraging cooperation during NRFU.

After taking over leadership of the Chicago Near Southwest office, the LCOM completed all phases

of Census 2000 ahead of schedule. The LCOM motivated his staff successfully and managed an

efficiently run office.
70
71

INDIANAPOLIS

Local Census Office #2536

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 28, 2000

May 9, 2000

June 14, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

53%

NRFU Workload

64,664 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Indianapolis LCO was located in the Milton Capehart Federal Building at 575 North Pennsylvania Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there

were 90 tracts, of which 28 (31.11 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were

131,105 housing units. The LCO was responsible for the Indianapolis metropolitan area and the

county of Marion. The area experienced rapid growth since the last census. About one in four

persons are Hispanic and one in eight are African-American.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$13.00 $25.00 $20.50 $17.25 $17.25 $9.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
72

INDIANAPOLIS

Local Census Office #2536

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Due in part to good planning by Headquarters as well as Regional Office assistance, the Indianapolis local census office was able to finish its work on time. However, the LCO encountered significant amounts of adversity in its effort to obtain a good count.

Observations

Due to the successful media and partnership campaign promoting the census, the mail response rate

in the Indianapolis LCO’s jurisdiction was higher than expected at 53 percent. The higher mail

response rate created a smaller than expected NRFU workload of just over 60,000 housing units.

The LCO exceeded its recruiting goal by 2 percent but encountered difficulty hiring the staff it

needed. Though wage rates seemed sufficient, low local unemployment (reportedly 2 percent) was

believed to be the primary reason for hiring woes. Management was unable to correct the LCO’s

low recruiting numbers by late April, so the RCC’s partnership team assisted the LCO to solicit the

help of 1,000 area churches. Churches located primarily in the city’s hardest to recruit neighborhoods responded by actively encouraging parishioners and community residents to apply for census jobs.

LCO management reported that Hispanics are the fastest growing community in the city. The

LCOM estimated the population had grown from about 8,000 Hispanics in 1990 to approximately

40,000 in 2000. Recognizing this changing demographic, the AMR made efforts to recruit and hire

Hispanic recruiters and enumerators to reflect the community.

The LCO was behind its NRFU completion goals during our first two visits. Nevertheless, the

LCO was able to complete its workload on June 13, ahead of the national deadline. As late as Board

staff’s second visit in May, the office was behind RCC goals for NRFU progress. The LCOM

credited this remarkable turnaround to the office’s ability to shed its more burdensome and less

productive workers. Additionally, allowing overtime pay increased enumerator productivity.

The Mayor’s CCC was active in promoting the census. For example, the City organized a public

rally encouraging residents to return their census forms on Census Day, April 1.

Recruiting and testing for decennial census positions began as much as a year ahead of major field

operations. Due to this lag time, the Indianapolis LCO received complaints from applicants about

the long period of time between testing and hiring. Generally, applicants who passed the enumerator test were told they would be called as soon as a position became available. But, it was sometimes months before an applicant was called, leaving some applicants feeling misled. This was a

[Continued on page 74]
73

INDIANAPOLIS

Local Census Office #2536

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The early creation of the Indianapolis CCC made it possible for the LCO to establish a considerable

number of QACs, which helped to promote a better response to the census. Unfortunately, the LCO

had a difficult time reaching their recruitment goal since their area had a low unemployment rate.

Observations

The local CCC, “Indy Counts!” was created in early 2000 to promote awareness of the census in

Indianapolis and Marion County, and to assist in enumerator recruiting. The LCO management

staff said their 36 QACs were well received by the community, and believed this program was

helpful in maintaining a positive public image.

This office was at 57 percent of its recruiting goal of 6,990 on March 28. The consensus of the LCO

senior staff was this was due to the area’s low unemployment rate (approximately 2.5 percent).

Management said they believed they were adding to their applicant pool at a rate of one percent per

day and expected to meet their staffing goal in time for all phases of census operations. The AMR

stated that his job would have been easier if the national advertising campaign had included a toll

free number and pushed jobs earlier in the process.

The only aspects of their HTE plan the LCOM was willing to discuss was the blitz enumeration

strategy that was employed during the Memorial Day weekend and the team enumeration strategy

used throughout NRFU in large apartment complexes. During our March 28 visit the LCOM informed our staff that he did have an HTE plan but that it was still evolving. During our June 14

visit, the LCOM told CMB staff that he would send the plan. We never received or reviewed the

HTE plan.
74

problem in other LCOs as well. Some areas of the country partially remedied these concerns by

sending out post cards asking applicants to call the office if they would like to be taken out of the

recruiting pool. For 2010, this concern could be remedied if periodic postcards are sent to applicants letting them know if the status of their application.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
75

MILWAUKEE

Local Census Office #2549

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 30, 2000

May 4, 2000

June 26 2000

Mailback Response Rate

57%

NRFU Workload

60,020 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Milwaukee LCO was located in the Reuss Federal Plaza at 310 Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 131 tracts, of which

71 (54.20 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 139,124 housing units.

According to LCO management staff, the area ethnic population was 53 percent African-American,

40 percent Caucasian, primarily of German descent, 5 percent Hispanic and 2 percent other, and

had been stable over the past few years because of favorable employment conditions.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$12.00 $24.00 $19.50 $16.25 $16.25 $9.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
76

MILWAUKEE

Local Census Office #2549

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

This LCO was responsible for operations in and around the center and northern Milwaukee metro

area. The office reported a significantly higher than expected 57 percent mail-response rate.

Observations

Among the challenges the Milwaukee LCO confronted were the widely publicized resignation of

its LCOM and the termination of its AMFO. These and related personnel problems appeared to

contribute to the office’s delay in completing NRFU operations and attracted the attention of the

General Accounting Office and the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General. However, the Regional Census Center took concrete, corrective steps; a new management team installed

just weeks before our June 26 visit, succeeded in getting operations back on-track.

The LCO managed to attract an adequate number of qualified staff, but it did encounter serious

turnover problems. In the end, the office reached 98 percent of its recruiting goal. Management

indicated that the “Census Jobs” postcard mailing was the most effective tool in attracting inquiries.

Unfortunately, when Board staff visited in May, they were told that four to five people were quitting everyday—a trend that, reportedly, continued for another month. Low wages were not thought

to be a factor. Rather, the new LCOM told Board staff that the poor training and supervisory

regime established during the tenure of the previous LCOM and AMFO led to widespread “disenchantment” and “dysfunctionality.” The new management team sought to stem the turnover tide

and boost morale by instituting a new supervisory and training regime.

Unfaltering community relationships served the office well throughout each operational phase and

helped to bolster the office during difficult times. The offices of the Governor, and the Mayor were

cited by the LCO as being particularly supportive. Additionally, the 19 QACs represented an

excellent “return on investment,” recording upwards of four times the average number of contacts.
77

MILWAUKEE

Local Census Office #2549

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Milwaukee office received unwanted national attention for a series of charges, counter-charges

and firings that prompted a visit from Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt. Community leaders were particularly disappointed with the Chicago RCC’s cancellation of cooperative arrangements with the city of Milwaukee and the Census Bureau’s lack of effective intergovernmental

relations.

Observations

The Milwaukee LCO was the focus of a series of high-profile newspaper articles, criticism from

local elected officials and attention from the Bureau. In her May 11 resignation letter, the former

LCOM wrote the Chicago RCC that she felt forced to resign because she had been “requested to

compromise my ethics and morals.”

Ordinarily, assistant managers could be expected to take up some of the duties. However, shortly

after the well-publicized resignation of the LCOM, the AMFO was terminated for allegedly failing

to follow training procedures. During our June 26 visit, Chicago RCC staff and Milwaukee LCO

staff attributed the office’s 30 percent attrition rate among enumerators to the former AMFO. Bureau personnel tried to assure that staffing problems would be resolved with her replacement.

The office’s recruiting efforts were less successful than others in meeting its overall hiring goal.

According to the final April 20 national recruiting report, the Milwaukee LCO ranked 40 of 45 in

the Chicago region in terms of the percentage of “qualified applicant” goal. During our March 30

visit, the AMR attributed low recruitment to the area’s 1.8 percent unemployment rate. However,

according to Associate Census Director Steve Jost, the LCOM had “arbitrarily adjusted Census

Bureau policies” (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, May 24).

As required, the LCO management staff wrote an HTE Action Plan to address its difficult tracts.

The plan, provided by the Chicago RCC to the Monitoring Board, was used primarily during NRFU,

however, the LCO staff indicated some of the plan’s strategies would be used during other phases

of Census 2000 Coverage Improvement Follow-Up and residual NRFU). The LCOM cited team

and blitz enumeration as two effective components of the Bureau’s “toolkit.” Employees also used

reverse telephone directory information as a resource during closeout. The office required assistance from six surrounding LCOs in order to complete NRFU.

During several conversations with an official of the Wisconsin CCC, Board staff gained the state’s

perspective that there were more substantial problems underlying the LCO’s effort. For instance, a

general lack of resources – the advertising budget, the promotion material and general support –

from the Chicago RCC led the state to conclude that efforts throughout the Region were disproportionately skewed away from Wisconsin, and Milwaukee in particular.
78

In light of LCOM’s resignation and in response to letters from U.S. Senators Herb Kohl (D) and

Russ Feingold (D) as well as U.S. Representatives Tom Barrett (D-5th) and Jerry Kleczka (D-4th),

Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt visited the city on June 6. About two weeks later, Mayor John

Norquist (D) and four aldermen wrote a follow-up letter, stating the Chicago RCC “continues to

sabotage” local efforts.

Jim Rowen, coordinator for the city’s effort and deputy director of the Department of Administration expressed similar concerns saying, “The problems aren’t with people at the local census offices, but with regional officials who have blocked partnerships between the city and local workers.

The local offices make plans and have been very cooperative, then the regional office ... pulls the

rug out from under the planning.” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel June 23)

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]
79

Report to Congress Dallas Region October 1, 2000

Alfonso E. Mirabal serves as Director of the Dallas Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Dallas Region and the Local Census Offices in those states

reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Louisiana: Orleans Parish LCO

 Mississippi: Greenville LCO

 Texas: El Paso LCO; Harris County Northwest LCO; San Antonio Central LCO

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 11,455,812 Housing Units

• 365,000 Square Miles

• 3 States, 400 Counties

• 6 American Indian Reservations

• 6,103 Governmental Units

• 42 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 6 U.S. Senators

• 46 Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• Has three of the top 10 most populated cities in the U.S. (Houston, Dallas and San Antonio)

• Third largest number of housing units

• Contains 1,400 colonias, unincorporated, quasi-rural settlements on the U.S. side of the U.S. –

Mexico border

• Second largest projected net increase in population from 1995 - 2025

• Hispanics make up one-fourth or more of the total population of Texas (26 percent) and has four

of the largest cities in the U.S. (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and El Paso) with Hispanic

populations

• The percentage of people who do not speak fluent English is higher in Texas than the national

average

• Mississippi has the lowest median household income in the nation
80
81

ORLEANS PARISH

Local Census Office #3019

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 29, 2000

May 4, 2000

June 8, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

55%

NRFU Workload

58,365 housing units

LCO Types

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Orleans Parish LCO was located at 1250 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. According

to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 78 tracts, of which 20 (25.64 percent) were HTE

and characterized by illiteracy and language barriers (Spanish and Vietnamese). According to the

1990 PDB, there were 117,116 housing units. The LCO was responsible for outlying areas near the

city of New Orleans. The area’s diversity included African-Americans, whites, Hispanics and

Asian-Americans. The office was physically located in the city of New Orleans, outside the LCO’s

region. General Services Administration (GSA) had been unable to secure a lease in Orleans Parish.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$11.75 $23.75 $19.25 $16.00 $16.00 $9.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
82

ORLEANS PARISH

Local Census Office #3019

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Orleans Parish LCO completed NRFU operations during the third week of June. While the

office was slightly behind the regional curve completing NRFU, the office completed these operations well ahead of the national completion date of June 28.

Observations

The area is characterized by growing Hispanic and Vietnamese populations and a history of illiteracy. Moreover, the LCO jurisdiction contains a high volume of blighted and dilapidated housing

units. Nearly 20,000 census forms sent in the mail could not be delivered by the post office. The

LCO hand delivered 95 percent of these forms; the remaining 5 percent of housing units no longer

exist.

The LCO succeeded in recruiting a large number of people. During our first visit in late March, the

office was at 125 percent of its recruiting goal. One of the recruiting assistants was Vietnamese and

instrumental to bringing Vietnamese employees on board. Approximately 5 percent of the applicant pool was Vietnamese.

Orleans Parish experienced difficulty hiring Hispanics. Unfortunately, the LCO relied on a single

person who made promises to deliver large numbers of recruits. During our second visit, the office

reported that just under three percent of the employees were Hispanic. At our last visit, the LCOM

felt confident that the problem had lessened.

Louisiana as a whole ranked 45th among the 50 states with a 59 percent response rate. The mail

response rate was 55 percent for this LCO’s jurisdiction. While the response rate was disappointing, the workload for Orleans Parish was just over 58,000 housing units. This workload is comparable to other local census offices with better response rates. The office had a slow start when two

assistant managers left. Due to the lack of time for management training, these managers were

replaced with two regional technicians. Our third visit to the office in late June showed that the

office was just short of the national NRFU completion goal (85 percent) at 83 percent.

The Bureau’s Planning Database helped this LCO make decisions about which methods of enumeration to use. For example, based planning database information, management decided to employ paired enumeration in East Orleans and blitz enumeration in some housing projects. The

planning database did not, however, anticipate the problems it encountered gaining access into

gated communities.

[Continued on page 84]
83

ORLEANS PARISH

Local Census Office #3019

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Orleans Parish LCO faced several challenges including difficulty recruiting Hispanic enumerators, a high turnover rate, a large amount of UAAs and an ineffective Targeted Non-Shelter

phase.

Observations

During the June 8 visit, the LCOM reported that he had been directed by the Dallas RCC to not give

copies of any material, including their HTE plan to the U.S. Census Monitoring Board.

The LCOM was forthright in discussing the weak relationship between the federal government and

the Hispanic community (about 12 percent of the population), which was confirmed by the state’s

Hispanic CCC. There were seven Recruiting Assistants assigned to the office, however none were

Hispanic. Consequently, the office had difficulty in hiring Hispanic enumerators, despite the efforts of the Hispanic CCC and the Catholic Church. Furthermore, we noted a 50 percent turnover

among the office’s enumerators during our May 4 visit.

We are concerned with the 15,000 forms returned to the LCO as UAA, as reported during the June

8 visit. (60,000 forms were reported as UAA among the four LCOs in the vicinity of New Orleans.)

During the June 8 Monitoring Board visit, the LCOM described an ambitious, though artificially

imposed deadline of June 24 for the completion of NRFU. At that meeting, the office was a week

behind schedule and had only completed 80 percent of its original caseload. Approximately 12,000

cases remained open, despite using over 1,200 enumerators. Although slow progress does not

correlate to inaccuracy, the office’s remaining cases were concentrated in the HTE areas – places

where adequate time should be spent in order to fully enumerate them.

It appears that the Targeted Non-Shelter phase of Census 2000 operations was not effective. Despite visiting seven locations, only two people were enumerated.
84

Cities around the country encountered challenges gaining access to gated communities and secure

apartment buildings. LCOs in Hialeah, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Portland reported this as an

unexpected challenge to enumeration.

During our first visit in late March, the LCOM told us that he wished local leaders were more

involved in the local efforts to promote the census. When we returned in early May, the LCOM

reported community leaders had increased their level of participation and were actively assisting

the Bureau.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
85

GREENVILLE

Local Census Office #3021

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 30, 2000

May 3, 2000

June 12, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

59%

NRFU Workload

82,753 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Greenville LCO was located at 707 Washington Avenue, Greenville, Mississippi. According

to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 111 tracts, of which 20 (18 percent) were HTE

and characterized by people’s distrust in government and the fear of losing public assistance. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 172,179 housing units. The LCO was responsible for the 19

counties of the Mississippi Delta, an area extending north to south about 200 miles and east to west

about 150 miles. This region had a wide variety of rural and hard-to-reach areas.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$9.25 $21.25 $16.75 $13.50 $13.50 $7.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
86

GREENVILLE

Local Census Office #3021

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

In the Mississippi Delta, farming is the main industry although government assistance is reportedly

the number one source of income. Just under half (49) of the 111 tracts were hard-to-enumerate

areas.

Observations

The major challenges facing the office were a lack of trust, fear of government, and apathy. However, when Board staff observed field operations in mid-June, enumerators reported a cooperative

community response, especially in the southern counties. One respondent invited the enumerators

and Board observers in to her home and told the enumerators she was so glad they came because

she wanted to be sure her family was included in the census.

Field operations took place in very rural and some suburban areas. The AMFO reported that the

rural maps created some confusion since they seemed to be printed on the same scale as more urban

areas. In an urban area, an assignment map might be covered by one or two maps. In very rural

areas, such as those covered by the Greenville, Mississippi, the Window Rock, Arizona and the

Altoona, Pennsylvania LCOs, upwards of 50 maps covered one assignment area.

The office reached its recruiting goal but faced problems finding workers in DeSoto County, located in the Memphis metro area. DeSoto County is one of the fastest growing counties in Mississippi. This recruiting difficulty affected NRFU as DeSoto was the last County enumerated. Experienced enumerators from the southern counties were sent to help finish the entire LCO’s NRFU

workload ahead of the national deadline by June 21.

With a lower than expected response rate, the office compensated by hiring an additional 200 enumerators. Furthermore, after a visit from a Bureau Headquarters observer in mid-March, two more

FOS districts were authorized to balance the workload and geographic area.

The LCO’s five public forums on the census to raise mail response rates, contributed to a 30 percent

increase in the mail response rate in Clarksdale. The Governor performed public service announcements and the LCO enlisted the support of mayors, county supervisors and ministers. Actor Morgan Freeman also produced effective public service announcements.
87

GREENVILLE

Local Census Office #3021

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Mississippi Delta was highlighted by CMBC as part of our “listening tours” and was described

in our January 18, 2000 report to Congress. It appears that two of our salient recommendations, the

use of facilitators and culturally sensitive enumerators, were not adopted in this extremely hard-tocount area. We are concerned about the reliability of the Greenville LCO region’s census efforts,

due to a lack of sensitivity to the needs of the community.

Observations

This LCO faced recruiting difficulties, a high number of UAAs, and initial low response rates. In

addition, the community has expressed concern regarding the LCO’s efforts.

This LCO had low recruitment rates. Specifically, we noted that the office conducted its U/L

operation with only 90 percent of its hiring goal. The LCOM reported that illiteracy, a small

skilled-labor force, and the casino industry had made recruiting difficult. In addition, even though

almost 800 NRFU enumerators were hired, none were members of the growing Hispanic community (about 5 percent of the LCO’s population). Nor did the LCO hire facilitators. As late as May

3, the LCO was forced to ask the Jackson (LCO 3022) office’s Hispanic liaison for assistance in

reaching out to Hispanic churches in the Greenville area.

We have concerns regarding the 7,400 forms to the LCO as UAA, many due to difficulties with PO

Boxes during the MO/MB phase. Three thousand of the UAAs were concentrated in four counties:

Coahoma, DeSoto, Panola and Tunica. These northern Delta counties, that include Memphis suburbs and rural areas, were forced to rely on enumerators to deliver the UAA forms to the households. In addition to the UAAs, there were also reports that housing units in rural areas, parts of the

U/L operation, did not receive census forms, increasing our concern that many housing units in this

historically undercounted region may not have received an initial census form.

Although return rates of census forms began slowly, the involvement of elected officials and the

airing of PSAs – including a joint PSA by the U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R) and U.S.

Representative Bennie Thompson (D-2nd) – helped increase the response rate 34 percentage points

during the last two weeks of the MO/MB phase (the first two weeks of April). Local government

also helped establish 24 QACs, most of which were in local libraries, county extension offices and

town halls. The LCO’s final response rate was 59 percent – the final response rates in many counties and towns were below the goals set for 2000 and among the lowest in Mississippi.

To demonstrate the value of local elected officials in ensuring a successful census, compare Tunica

and Holmes Counties within this LCO region. They are demographically very similar both are

extremely rural and have an African-American population of approximately 76 percent, according

to the 1990 census. However, the performances of the two counties were markedly different. Holmes
88

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

County’s rate of return was 59 percent (goal 59 percent), Tunica County’s was 43 percent (goal 64

percent).

In Holmes County, an engaged Board of Supervisors, as well as other partnering organizations

made valuable contributions and promoted the census. In Tunica, after discussions with the Industrial Foundation and Southern Echo, two partner organizations, questions were raised as to the

aggressiveness of the Bureau’s efforts to engage the community and to ensure that Tunica was

counted accurately. After our May 3 visit, members of the community reported forms had not

reached the African-American neighborhoods.

During the June 12 visit, the LCOM reported that he had received an e-mail from the Dallas RCC

that authorized local managers to provide copies of the HTE plan to the Monitoring Board. However, when CMBC staff asked for a copy in order to evaluate it, the manager refused stating that the

document would only be sent to the Bureau’s headquarters.
89

EL PASO

Local Census Office #3036

Overview

Dates of Visits:

February 29, 2000

May 18, 2000

June 30, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

68%

NRFU Workload

71,061 housing units

LCO Type

Type D Office (includes list/enumerate areas and may also include mailout/mailback, update/leave

and update/enumerate areas)

Geographic Description

The El Paso LCO was located at 8037 Lockheed, El Paso, Texas. According to the February 2000

Tract Action Plan, there were 120 tracts, of which 41 (34.17 percent) were HTE. According to the

1990 PDB, there were 211,525 housing units. The LCO was responsible for 10 counties in over

25,000 square miles. This area has a growing Spanish speaking immigrant and colonia population.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$9.50 $21.50 $17.00 $13.75 $13.75 $7.25

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
90

EL PASO

Local Census Office #3036

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Overall, the El Paso LCO was very efficient in all its operations and produced excellent results.

The office overcame a rocky start, replacing a low performing AMFO in mid-March, with an employee who had experience in the listing and block canvassing operations. Recruitment efforts

were very successful largely because of the high local unemployment rates.

Observations

Exceeding expectations, the mail-back response rate was nearly 70 percent, leaving about 72,000

housing units for NRFU. During our visits, NRFU progressed ahead of schedule, allowing El Paso

to send work crews to fire-devastated Donna Anna and Otero Counties in New Mexico.

The LCO hired 75 cultural facilitators to assist in HTE communities. Facilitators accompanied

enumerators to gain access to communities traditionally leery of the census. Facilitators were also

effectively used in the Boston South, Denver, San Diego South and Portland LCOs. Both the

Board and the LCOM agree that the cultural facilitator program was effective. To further assist

enumeration in HTE communities, 43 QACs were established and reported good turnout. The

elderly were frequent visitors of the QACs.

Group Quarters enumeration went relatively well. The Bureau encountered resistance from the

local U.S. Border Patrol officials as well as personnel from Latuna, the local state prison. Neither

would initially release the names of people detained at their facilities for the census count.

The El Paso LCO included a large portion of the colonias which presented serious challenges for an

effective census count. However, the LCOM reported that enumeration went exceptionally well in

the colonias, the majority of which were reached during Update/Enumerate operations.

Because of shared media markets and intermingling communities, the LCO’s media Partnership

Specialist worked with El Paso and the Dallas Regional Office, and some locations in New Mexico

under the Denver Regional Office. The arrangement reportedly worked well and served to provide

a consistent message while maximizing marketing dollars in the shared communities.

Assistance by local elected officials resulted in the production of several Public Service Announcements featuring the Mayor as well as the local Catholic Bishops encouraging participation. Census

Day at area schools was highlighted by LCO staff as being very successful.

In the process of NRFU, a new and serious problem arose. Some retired military personnel and

higher income households refused to cooperate with enumerators citing negative comments about

the census from national political figures and radio commentators.
91

EL PASO

Local Census Office #3036

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The El Paso LCO management staff reported that the historically undercounted populations were

more responsive during this decennial Census. Throughout its area, especially in the colonias,

neighborhoods were better served with special, tailor-made preparations rather than the “one-sizefits-all” census planning. These plans included the use of cultural facilitators, a successful strategy

that proved to be successful for this LCO.

Observations

The El Paso office was one of four LCOs highlighted in our April 1, 2000 report to Congress. In

that report, we summarized the results of our February 29 visit, our first to the office. We noted the

office’s formidable challenges in the colonias, “residential subdivisions lacking essential facilities

such as water and wastewater services and paved roads,” in trying to enumerate a vast area on the

western edge of the Texas / Mexico border, with large and growing immigrant Spanish-speaking

communities. One of the strategies listed in the Bureau’s “Toolkit” to address such HTE tracts was

cultural facilitators. During our May 18 visit, the LCOM staff reported 200 facilitators had been

identified and 75 were currently employed.

The El Paso office ranked first in recruiting among the Dallas RCC’s 42 LCOs. One unique source

of qualified job applicant was the 10-county region’s school boards. Often the largest government

entity in a community, these boards contributed teachers and other employees to the census.

The state’s QACs, established by The Texas 2000 Initiative complemented the 43 QACs established by the Bureau. This program, developed by Governor George W. Bush was intended to

achieve a complete census count in Texas.

Besides appearing in PSAs to promote awareness of the Census, U.S. Representative Silvestre

Reyes (D-16th) was especially active in outreach efforts targeted to the colonias, and encouraged

participation in the “Census in the Schools” program.

The LCO management staff maintained a good working relationship with the city of El Paso, which

allocated $50,000 for its CCC to conduct partnership and outreach efforts. Another unique partnership was formed between two media specialists. The Dallas RCC media specialist, who worked out

of the El Paso LCO collaborated with the Denver RCC media specialist, who worked nearby (46

miles away) at the La Cruces, NM LCO (3135). This relationship is an example of excellent interRCC cooperation and proved to be effective in developing successful strategies.
92
93

HARRIS COUNTY NORTHWEST

Local Census Office #3039

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 5, 2000

May 17, 2000

June 29, 2000

NRFU Workload

98,892 housing units

Mailback Response Rate

65%

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Harris County Northwest LCO was located in Long Point Plaza II, at 9610 Long Point, Houston, Texas. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 102 tracts, of which 8

(7.84 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 247,653 housing units. The

LCO is responsible for Harris County and parts of the northwest side of the City of Houston. More

than half of this population is white, about 10 - 15 percent is Hispanic, about three percent AsianAmerican and about one percent American Indian.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$13.75 $25.75 $21.25 $18.00 $18.00 $10.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
94

HARRIS COUNTY NORTHWEST

Local Census Office #3039

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Despite several facility issues and supply problems, the LCO successfully completed all operations. Recruitment exceeded goals and NRFU ended earlier than the national deadline.

Observations

Recruitment efforts resulted in over 7,000 applications, 103 percent of the overall goal. The recruiting success was instrumental to NRFU completion since the employee turnover rate was reportedly high. An ongoing recruitment and training effort was necessary to staff the various operations.

The LCO manager described general facility and material delivery problems. Examples include:

the office’s air conditioning did not cool sufficiently; there were not enough phones and phone

lines; there was a lack of storage space; and some materials were not delivered in a timely manner.

The LCOM reported that she coordinated with the managers from other local area offices to swap

supplies whenever possible.

In an effort to reach HTE populations, 47 QACs with at least one paid employee per site and 8-10

additional Be Counted sites were established. Fifteen of the QACs were staffed by Spanish speakers. The LCO worked hard to get sites in various languages such as Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean,

Urdu and Polish.

During NRFU, the LCO enumerated approximately 98,000 housing units distributed among 49

crew leader districts to enumerate. Initially, the operation lagged behind schedule. The large number of part-time enumerators, which comprised about 60 percent of the total, was cited as the primary reason for the delay. As work progressed, part-time employees dropped to an average of 40

percent of the LCO’s full employment goal. The LCO then mobilized an all-out canvassing effort

and was able to complete NRFU ahead of the national deadline, on June 21.

Given the diverse population, significant outreach efforts focused on reaching minority communities. This work resulted in a better than expected response, especially among traditionally HTE

populations. However, an unanticipated low response rate occurred in White middle and upperclass communities. The LCO manager reported that “census skeptic” comments made by national

media personalities and political figures had a negative impact on public cooperation, especially

during NRFU.

Partnerships were established with community organizations, churches, local elected officials and

the business community. Partnerships with the Indian Job Training Center and Luby’s Cafeterias

were cited as particularly successful. Overall, the cooperation and participation from all sectors of

the community contributed significantly to the final success of completing operations ahead of deadline.
95

HARRIS COUNTY NORTHWEST

Local Census Office #3039

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The frustrations in the Harris County Northwest LCO due to material and computer system problems were apparent at each meeting. The LCO staff worked hard to overcome challenges and

reduce the undercount.

Observations

The Bureau initially had identified only six HTE tracts in this LCO’s region. By working with two

partners, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and the Greater Houston Partnership,

the LCO management staff identified two more such tracts.

However, the LCO management staff identified yet another hard-to-count area — communities of

upper-middle class citizens where rapid development had occurred and residents were reluctant to

participate in the census. Because of the major changes in this area, several tactics were used to

complete enumeration, including switching from male to female enumerators (and vice versa),

visiting at different times and using the enumerators’ supervisor, the Crew Leader.

During our May 17 visit, Assistant Manager for Recruiting discussed staffing levels and difficulty

in retaining employees, though the office ranked 13 by recruiting among the Dallas RCC’s 42

LCOs, according to the final April 20 national recruiting report. The LCO management staff reported the office had lost more than half of those trained and had a training no-show rate of about 40

percent, thus requiring about one hundred employees to be replaced weekly.

The LCO staff reported inconsistencies, even non-delivery with respect to census materials. This

material included recruiting material (received in early May), outreach material, enumerator bags

and kits, as well as occupant name list supplements. Though not directly related to actual enumeration, the lack of material has affected the operations of this LCO, at times requiring four clerks to

spend entire days just copying material.

The LCO staff also reported problems with the administrative computer system. Though applicant

records are reportedly screened three times, ineligible applicants were actually hired and later had

to be terminated. The LCO staff was then required to double-check clerical information manually.

In fact, when Monitoring Board staff accompanied the LCOM and AMFO to a May 17 Crew Leader

meeting, a review of some enumerators’ “poor” performances revealed that they were no longer

working there at all, having either terminated, moved to a different district or promoted.

LCO management staff reported over 17,000 UAAs had been returned to the office; however, 60

percent had been hand-delivered by 90 Bureau employees.
96
97

SAN ANTONIO CENTRAL

Local Census Office #3049

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 28, 2000

May 5, 2000

June 15, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

62%

NRFU Workload

69,543 housing units

LCO Types

Type B Office (entirely mailout/mailback)

Geographic Description

The San Antonio Central LCO was located in the Austin Building, at 4415 Piedras Drive West, in

San Antonio, Texas. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 99 tracts, of

which 77 (77.78 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 180,916 housing

units. The LCO was responsible for the east (primarily African-American) and west sides (primarily Hispanics) of San Antonio.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$10.25 $22.25 $17.75 $15.50 $15.50 $8.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
98

SAN ANTONIO CENTRAL

Local Census Office #3049

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

San Antonio registered the third highest initial mail response rate of the nation’s major cities and

the best city response rate in Texas with 66 percent. This level of participation was due largely to

partnership work with the city’s Complete Count Committee and local churches.

Observations

In conjunction with the city’s CCC, the LCO decided early to promote the census in areas of San

Antonio that were heavily undercounted in 1990. Primarily targeting the western half of the city,

the city government paid for billboards and city bus advertisements while the Northside school

district produced its own public service announcements.

The LCOM noted with pride that this census was the best publicized census in history and that the

heightened public awareness added to the success of NRFU operations. LCOMs with previous

decennial experience in San Francisco, Portland, and Philadelphia, also noted the positive effect of

the national advertising campaign.

The LCO was fortunate to have a husband/wife team of partnership specialists who attended every

Catholic mass in the Hispanic HTE areas for five Sundays beginning in March through the first

week in April. Mail response rates clearly reflected their effort in the churches.

Hiring bilingual enumerators was a priority and the office reported during our first visit in March

that roughly 75 percent of the applicant pool was bilingual in Spanish and English. The LCO

contained a large number of military personnel who represent an efficient and organized workforce.

The LCO Manager (a former military employee) lamented that national policies prevented him

from hiring those on active military duty. Nonetheless, the office hired qualified applicants throughout

the city. Indeed, during our second visit in May, the office had reached 153 percent of its recruiting

goal. Recruiting and hiring efforts were concentrated in the eastern half of the city after reports in

March and April showed lower mail response in those areas.

Most of the 69,000 Non-Response Follow-Up cases in the western part of the city were completed

in May. Crews that completed their workload early were quickly re-assigned to help finish areas in

East San Antonio. The office finished NRFU on June 8, well ahead of the national deadline. This

allowed for crews to be sent to the Austin LCO for a couple of days to help finish the enumeration

there.
99

SAN ANTONIO CENTRAL

Local Census Office #3049

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The San Antonio Central office showed partnerships with respected community organizations can

assist the Bureau in attaining recruiting goals, though pay issues reportedly caused consternation

among employees. Enumeration of three local military bases was made more difficult because of

last-minute decisions affecting recruiting and counting methodology.

Observations

Three-fourths of the office’s tracts met the definition of hard-to-enumerate neighborhoods, therefore the LCOM treated the entire territory as HTE. The LCO management staff wrote an HTE Plan

to address the difficult tracts and staff drove around the community to verify the characteristics.

The plan used a few methods from the Bureau’s “Toolkit,” such as the paired enumeration strategy

in certain high-crime areas.

The office’s strong awareness and recruiting efforts among Hispanics on the West Side of San

Antonio Central were assisted in large part by its partnership with the Roman Catholic churches.

However, recruiting among African-Americans on the city’s East Side was reported as difficult,

despite ministers and community leaders assisting in door-to-door and team recruiting. Though

waivers were granted for recipients of public assistance, the LCO management staff believed an

earlier approval of these waivers would have boosted recruitment efforts in HTE areas.

The LCO management staff described the need for competitive pay in retaining office staff. In

particular, although office clerks were paid $7.75 hourly (originally $7.00), clerks at the Telephone

QAC, two blocks away, were paid $9.00.

There were 15,000 forms returned to the LCO as UAA. Enumerators redelivered two-thirds of the

forms, the remainder were vacant or nonexistent households.

The San Antonio Central LCO faced its largest challenge in enumerating the military members that

were stationed at three local installations (approximately 36,000 at Brooks, Kelly and Lackland

AFBs). Though management staff had worked assiduously to establish partnerships with the military, a Commerce Department decision prohibiting the hiring of active-duty service personnel was

promulgated just before the start of the Census. The office’s AMFO attributed the bases’ low

response rate to this decision. Reportedly, eligible service personnel were angered by this decision,

which was made during a critical recruitment period, and chose not to participate in the census and

convinced some others to do the same.

Compounding this difficulty was a reported change in enumeration policy. Although the LCO’s

employees had completed enumeration of the bases by individual units, a later directive from the

Dallas RCC changed the enumeration to the Group Quarters process. Despite the employees’
100

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

previous efforts, work was reassigned and redone by other enumerators.

According to San Antonio’s city manager, there were problems in parts of San Antonio that were

going through redevelopment and had numerous new addresses. He felt many of these new addresses did not receive forms and reportedly were not visited by enumerators.

The San Antonio CCC and the city of San Antonio established good working relationships with the

Bureau. Of note, the local CCC allocated funding for outreach that provided advertising wraps on

buses that served some HTE tracts. The San Antonio CCC worked in conjunction with the LCO in

establishing 77 combined QACs and “Be Counted!” sites that served about 560 people.

In each of the Monitoring Board’s interviews, the LCO management staff expressed frustration,

directed to the Dallas RCC, at the timeliness of material receipt. Although employees persevered,

assistant managers said materials, including Special Places, recruiting kits, and language guides

arrived late, incomplete or not at all.
101

Report to Congress Denver Region October 1, 2000

Susan A. Lavin serves as Director of the Denver Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Denver Region and the Local Census Offices in those states

reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Arizona: Tucson (Urban) LCO; Window Rock LCO

 Colorado: Denver LCO

 Montana

 Nebraska

 Nevada

 New Mexico

 North Dakota

 South Dakota

 Utah

 Wyoming: Cheyenne LCO

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 8,530,971 Housing Units

• 905,222 Square Miles

• 10 States, 449 Counties

• 92 American Indian Reservations

• 5,458 Governmental Units

• 27 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 20 U.S. Senators

• 38 Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• Most states of any region

• Stretches from the Canadian to Mexican borders

• Ranks second among all regions in number of American Indian reservations

• Contains all 10 of the largest American Indian reservations, which account for about half of all

American Indians living on reservations

• Highest representation in the U.S. Senate

• Region has four of the top five growth states in the country
102
103

TUCSON (URBAN)

Local Census Office #3117

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 22, 2000

May 9, 2000

June 19, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

66%

NRFU Workload

101,192 housing units

LCO Types

Type C Office (including mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Tucson LCO was located at 3003 South Country Club Road, Tucson, Arizona. According to

the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 103 tracts, of which 65 (63.11 percent) were HTE.

According to the 1990 PDB, there were 254,499 housing units. The LCO was responsible for a

small part of the cities of Tucson (non-reservation) and South Tucson, which was primarily Hispanic.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$10.50 $18.00 $14.75 $14.75 $8.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
104

TUCSON (URBAN)

Local Census Office #3117

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Tucson LCO jurisdiction achieved a high mail response rate (66 percent) despite a concentration of minority groups that have been traditionally undercounted in the census. The high number

of Hard-to-Enumerate tracts (63 of 103) made the response rate particularly remarkable.

Observations

The LCO maintained a strong organizational structure. Employees working in the LCO seemed to

work diligently and understand their responsibilities clearly. The commitment and dedication of

the LCOM enabled a seamless transition between operations.

The LCOM appreciated the attention the Dallas Regional Office gave to the LCO. Communication

with the Regional Office was frequent, and the LCOM relied heavily on the advice of Regional

officials who offered “institutional” knowledge of census operations. In addition, early support

from the Phoenix LCO helped the Tucson office start operations. The General Services Administration was responsive to the LCO’s needs throughout the operation.

By March 22, the LCO had already tested 9,500 people, resulting in 6,500 eligible applicants. The

LCO eventually surpassed its recruiting goal by an impressive 20 percent. Managers thought the

extra recruits would be useful because of high attrition but, in the final analysis, worker retention

was normal.

According to the LCOM, 42 QACs, as well as several additional Be Counted sites, helped raise

census awareness and participation. The LCOM noted that wide distribution of Census Bureau

posters, such as the “No FBI, No CIA” poster, helped to advertise census integrity and allay fears

among residents about the confidentiality of census information.

Since the office’s higher mail response rate meant a lower NRFU workload, the LCO was able to

dedicate significant resources to designated Hard-to-Enumerate areas during NRFU. The LCO completed its 101,000 housing unit workload ahead of the national deadline on June 24.

Throughout NRFU, the LCO kept to its original HTE plan, which called for blitz enumeration and

paired enumeration in areas where high crime could endanger enumerators. Special efforts were

made to ensure that bilingual enumerators were assigned to Spanish-speaking neighborhoods and

households.

Moreover, the LCO worked closely with community-based organizations to motivate census participation and benefited from the active involvement of local elected officials.
105

TUCSON (URBAN)

Local Census Office #3117

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

State and local efforts helped achieve effective outreach with very little money. The LCO’s HTE

plan seemed to tailor resources to specific challenges. However, when communication between the

LCO and some local organizations broke down, the result was frustration and resentment.

Observations

Within the office’s HTE tracts, the Bureau faced the challenge of the lack of trust within the Hispanic community. Based on guidance from the Denver RCC, the LCO management staff wrote an

HTE plan to address its difficult tracts. For example, the paired enumeration strategy was utilized

in the March 28 – April 7 enumeration of recreational vehicle (RV) parks and the blitz enumeration

strategy was used as necessary. Homeowners’ and neighborhood associations were notified in

advance to increase awareness and promote response.

The HTE plan incorporated some suggestions from the city of South Tucson and U.S. Representative Ed Pastor (D-2nd). However, staff with both indicated members of the community were frustrated about several points. Their main concern was that the city of South Tucson allegedly provided a list of constituents’ names to the Bureau for employment, but “none” were contacted, either

for enumerator positions, or for service as a cultural facilitator. As residents of other areas conducted the census in South Tucson, inter-government relations deteriorated.

Though the office had difficulty in hiring Asian enumerators due to low unemployment rates, recruiting managers reported little difficulty in the Hispanic community, attributing their success to

Bureau advertising.

The State allocated approximately $15,000 towards outreach, much of which went for billboards in

HTE areas. The Tucson CCC and the Pima County Association of Governments (PAG) worked in

partnership with the Bureau to establish 42 QACs/“Be Counted!” sites, including a mobile unit.

All together, those sites served approximately 1,200 people through April 17. Thirty additional

“Be Counted!” sites were established.
106
107

WINDOW ROCK

Local Census Office #3118

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 19, 2000

June 14, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

45%

U/E Workload

72,151 housing units

LCO Types

Type D Office (includes list/enumerate areas and may also include mailout/mailback, update/

leave, and update/enumerate areas)

Geographic Description

The Window Rock LCO was located at the Navajo Tribal Fairgrounds, near the intersection of

Arizona Route 264 and Indian Reservation Route 12, in Window Rock, Arizona. According to the

February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 54 tracts in the LCO, of which 53 (98.15 percent) were

HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 35,288 housing units. The LCO covered the Navajo

Nation, encompassing portions of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah and ranging over 25,000 square

miles of land. Among the difficulties faced by this LCO were 95 percent unpaved roads, adverse

weather and rugged terrain. The LCO’s population was almost exclusively American Indian.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$9.25 $16.75 $13.50 $13.50 $7.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
108

WINDOW ROCK

Local Census Office #3118

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Census 2000 marked the first time a single LCO was responsible for the entire Navajo Nation.

Management reported this significant location change allowed for localized and improved operations.

Observations

Enumeration was primarily update/enumerate. Adverse weather can make area roads—95 percent

of which are unpaved—impassable. Houses are often more than two miles apart on isolated tracts

of land. Horseback is the only way to reach remote outposts where there are no roads. The manager

told us that the maps for the reservation were printed at a smaller scale than necessary for housing

units that are located so far apart. This observation was mentioned in other rural LCOs visited such

as Greenville, Mississippi and Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Most people on the reservation do not have telephones. Indeed, not long ago President Clinton was

in the Navajo Nation to announce an initiative to extend telecommunications access to tribal lands.

Consequently, enumerators were told to personally visit each household up to six times rather than

three personal visits and three phone calls.

In an area where upwards of one in two adults are unemployed, the census provided a rare opportunity to work within the community on an important issue. Recruiting efforts yielded over 8,000

applicants. Due to the recruiting success, the manager’s request for a pay increase was denied.

Because the LCO was located on the Navajo reservation, most employees knew the area well and

spoke both English and Navajo. One day of training was devoted to cultural sensitivity and translation of the census questionnaire into Navajo. This proved essential since the older generation

speaks only Navajo and the younger generations speak little Navajo. During the Board staff observation of update/enumerate field follow-up, enumerators used both the English and Navajo languages.

A century old land dispute between the Hopi and Navajo tribes exists just east of the LCO’s jurisdiction. The area is called Hopi/Navajo partition land. Navajos live in some areas governed by

Hopis, and vice versa. To adjust to this situation, the Window Rock and the Flagstaff LCOs sent

paired enumerators – one Hopi and one Navajo to each housing unit. The two tribes were able to

work together on this historic occasion to improve the census count.

The Navajo Nation took seriously the efforts to get its citizens counted in the 2000 Census. The

President and Speaker of the Assembly worked together to appropriate over $25,000 for a public

[Continued on page 110]
109

WINDOW ROCK

Local Census Office #3118

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Window Rock LCO faced the challenge of counting an area that is 98 percent HTE. The LCO

was strongly supported by the Navajo Nation and the Denver RCC and was empowered to develop

its own targeted outreach campaign for the Navajo Nation.

Observations

The Window Rock LCO is responsible for the Navajo Nation in the tri-state region of Arizona,

New Mexico and Utah. Ninety-eight percent of the LCOs tracts meet the definition of hard-toenumerate. In the HTE tracts, the LCO was challenged by linguistic isolation, high rates of illiteracy, seasonal migration and a high percentage of working single parent homes. To address these

challenges, the LCO management staff wrote an HTE Action Plan, a copy of the summary was

provide to the Monitoring Board. In the summary, the LCO management staff predicted some

reasons for the lack of cooperation with the census would be “a mistrust of federal government,

confidentiality concerns, misleading information, lack of awareness and the ‘door step’ approach to

enumeration.” Changes were made to the methods by which enumerators went door-to-door (normal procedure is for the enumerator not to enter a home, but here enumerators were encouraged to

enter the household and receive the residents’ hospitality).

The Denver RCC had arranged for cultural classes in order to advise the enumerators of what to

expect when visiting Native American homes (though the office was staffed entirely by Navajo

residents). Although these classes were helpful in teaching customs and protocol, the LCOM suggested the Bureau needed to recognize all different Native American peoples and respect their

differences. The LCO managers noted the Bureau’s public relations campaign placed all Native

Americans under one umbrella. However, the Denver RCC did empower the LCO by permitting it

to create its own targeted campaign for the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation spent approximately

$25,000 to accomplish this specific project and outreach in general. The LCO staff worked with

one CCC, which was comprised of five Council Delegates and five at-large members from the

Navajo Nation.

There was little difficulty in recruiting employees, given the area’s high unemployment rate and the

tribal government’s strong support, but the office’s results were not reported on national recruiting

reports. The final April 21 report notes this LCO was “not included due to it’s small NRFU workload.

Primarily U/E. Data would have been skewed for the report.”

The LCO staff was challenged by the quality of maps provided to the office. According to managers, the Denver RCC-provided maps did not always reflect requested changes and were incorrectly

scaled. In an area like Window Rock, the LCO management staff considers the inclusion of more

landmarks more efficient in locating homes because of the distance between homes and villages.

Denver RCC noted an unrelated problem with the timeliness of various other supplies, due to dis-
110

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

awareness campaign. The CCC met monthly. All 110 chapters of the Navajo Nation passed resolutions supporting the census. Additionally, both sides of the Monitoring Board spoke at a tribal

leaders census conference in Gallup, New Mexico in November 1999, to encourage local efforts to

promote Census 2000 participation.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]

tance and rough terrain that characterize the LCO’s area.

We believe the entire LCO staff showed great inventiveness by creating materials and a cultural

awareness program particular to the Navajo Nation. This initiative, coupled with teamwork between the tribal and federal governments, will play a large part in ensuring the census will not fail

this area’s residents again.

The Window Rock LCO successfully showed how strong support from Native American tribes,

like the Navajo Nation, and dedicated efforts by the Bureau, including the Denver RCC, can prevent failure in traditionally HTE communities and ensure more accurate enumeration.
111

DENVER

Local Census Office #3121

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 23, 2000

May 10, 2000

June 7, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

67%

NRFU Workload

86,200 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Denver LCO was located at 999 18th Street, Denver, Colorado. According to the February

2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 141 tracts, of which approximately one-third were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 239,636 housing units. The LCO was responsible for the

Denver metropolitan area and the county of Denver. The area experienced rapid growth since the

last census. Approximately one in four residents are Hispanic and one in eight are African-American.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$12.75 $20.25 $17.00 $17.00 $9.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
112

DENVER

Local Census Office #3121

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Denver achieved a high response rate (67 percent) despite a number of challenges presented by

significant population growth in the metro Denver area and population diversity throughout the

jurisdiction.

Observations

The LCO’s enumeration strategy targeted traditionally Hard-to-Enumerate populations: the homeless, college students and the elderly, as well as minority groups such as Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans. A high overall mail response rate enabled the LCO

to intensify efforts in its Hard-to-Enumerate tracts where traditionally undercounted minority populations reside.

LCO management went to great lengths to ensure that census workers were recruited from the

Hard-to-Enumerate areas. For example, the LCO organized a “Recruitment Day” as part of a broad

effort to attract employees who lived in, and were knowledgeable of, targeted neighborhoods, particularly in the predominantly Spanish-speaking areas and in the recently revitalized historic section of the city. As of March 23, more than forty enumerator test sessions were conducted in hard

to enumerate communities. Moreover, as of May 10, the availability of Spanish language tests, as

well as competitive hourly wages, helped draw upwards of 6,000 applicants. Practice sessions

enabled a high pass rate for aptitude tests, approximately 90 percent.

The development of strong internal procedures and enthusiasm among LCO management carried

down to field workers, thereby favorably impacting NRFU operations. A program calling for the

assignment of bilingual enumerators to districts in which Spanish is commonly spoken, “paired”

enumeration in high crime areas, and deployment of community facilitators helped make NRFU

operations successful. LCO staff and the office’s strategic plan put the office on target to complete

NRFU by June 24, 2000.

A field observation in a historic section of downtown Denver provided an opportunity to review the

work of an enumerator and to assess competence levels. The enumerator worked efficiently and

professionally, exceeding the national goal of 1.4 cases per hour. In a few instances, neighbors

helped the enumerator bridge language gaps between the enumerator (English-speaking) and respondents (Spanish-speaking only).

The LCOM worked on the 1990 Census, thus providing him invaluable experience in meeting

challenges in the 2000 Census. He credited the Bureau’s Partnership Program and involvement by

an active CCC, comprised of elected officials and local community organizations, for enhancing

public awareness of and participation in the census. The LCO participated in numerous joint events

with the CCC over the course of the office’s existence.
113

DENVER

Local Census Office #3121

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Denver office showed how individuals with previous decennial census experience and municipal government knowledge can improve recruiting, partnership and planning efforts by working in

cooperation with elected officials and community groups, thus ensuring a full and accurate enumeration.

Observations

Within the office’s HTE tracts, the Bureau faced pockets of language isolation as well as traditional

challenges enumerating public housing projects and single-person households. To the Bureau’s

credit, the LCO management wrote an HTE Action Plan that addressed the difficult tracts and

incorporated suggestions from members of the Denver City Council. The plan was followed closely,

but was also modified as needed. For example, the paired enumeration strategy was added in some

places with low response rates and the blitz enumeration strategy was added for several apartment

complexes not originally included in the plan. During the course of the March 23 Monitoring

Board visit, we were given the opportunity to review one (of 141) tract’s blueprint. Unfortunately,

the entire plan was not provided by the Denver RCC until September 8, 2000, thus it could not be

fully evaluated.

In addition, we are concerned with the 10,000 forms returned to the LCO as UAA, as reported

during the March 23 visit.

Despite the region’s low unemployment rate, the office met its overall hiring goal and successfully

recruited over 300 bilingual enumerators to improve enumeration in the Hispanic communities.

Competitive wages, partnership efforts and efficient use of part-timers (about 70 percent of the

enumerator workforce) permitted the LCO to operate at about 96 percent of its projected staffing

requirements.

The Denver CCC established an excellent working relationship with the Bureau. Of note, the City

Council of Denver had allocated approximately $80,000 towards outreach, including yard signs,

Spanish-language materials and PSAs. These partnership efforts helped lead to higher-than-expected return rates of census forms by mail (67 percent versus 1990’s 63 percent). Organizations

such as the Denver Public Housing Authority, Denver school district, GANAS (Greater Area Neighborhood Affiliated for Service) and Servicios de la Raza were instrumental in establishing 35 QACs

and 11 “Be Counted!” sites that served approximately 1,600 people.

Results from the Denver office demonstrate how valuable the work of local elected officials, like

city council members, is to ensuring a successful census. Although other cities have expressed frustration over inter-government relations, it seemed like this LCO regularly provided the city with essential

information, including the status of operations and even frequent neighborhood progress reports.
114
115

CHEYENNE

Local Census Office #3144

Overview

Dates of Visits:

May 22, 2000

June 29, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

64%

NRFU Workload

33,029 housing units

LCO Type

Type D Office (includes list/enumerate areas and may also include mailout/mailback, update/

leave, and update/enumerate areas)

Geographic Description

The Cheyenne LCO was located on the first floor of the U.S. Postal Service facility at 2120 Capitol

Avenue, Cheyenne, Wyoming. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 86

tracts in the LCO, of which 24 (27.91 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were

99,818 housing units. The LCO encompassed 11 counties in the southeastern half of the state, a

predominantly rural area that is racially and linguistically homogenous.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$9.50 $17.00 $13.75 $13.75 $7.25

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
116

CHEYENNE

Local Census Office #3144

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The LCO garnered a higher than expected mail-response rate of 64 percent, representing an increase over 1990. This increase allowed the LCO to complete NRFU operations nearly one month

ahead of the national deadline.

Observations

The LCO employed three different types of enumeration methods: mail-out/mail-back (MO/MB),

update/leave (U/L,) and list-enumerate (L/E). Overlapping operations schedules (U/L operations

took place in March; L/E started on March 20 and ended on April 22; and MO/MB followed the

standard, nationwide timetable) led to some public confusion and presented a staffing management

challenge, but neither proved insurmountable.

The office reached 93 percent of its recruiting goal of 4,800 people. The office was short-handed at

the beginning of U/L but was fully staffed for every other operation. The “Census Jobs” postcards,

augmented by local radio, proved to be the most effective tools in attracting applicants. Training

proceeded without difficulty, aside from several materials arriving shortly after training began.

The LCOM described training as very effective; only a small percentage of people needed additional on-the-job training.

The LCO made extensive use of the Bureau’s Planning Database. The database enabled managers

to foresee which areas would require special enumeration methods such as the use of Spanish/

English bilingual enumerators.

The office completed its NRFU workload of over 33,000 housing units on June 5, well ahead of the

national schedule. However, the transition from rural route to city-style addresses did present some

challenges. For example, a number of listing/delivery problems cropped-up in both Converse and

Goshen counties, even though both participated in LUCA. Address changes in the period between

the end of LUCA and the start of field operations contributed to these problems.

Cheyenne received numerous long-form complaints. The LCOM noted that well-publicized statements by certain national political leaders and media personalities contributed to the long-form

backlash. The LCOM said, “people would quote them when my people knocked on the door.” A

significant number of residents told NRFU field staff that they had already answered all the questions they deemed necessary.

The Governor’s Census 2000 Taskforce proved to be invaluable to the LCO’s efforts. Wyoming

held over 25 meetings across the state promoting census awareness and participation. The State

[Continued on page 118]
117

CHEYENNE

Local Census Office #3144

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

Several issues created concern about LCO operations in Cheyenne. Many residents in MO/MB

areas were missed because of Post Office Box non-delivery. The level of proxy data seems to be

unusually high. The staff of the LCO had little preparation, or training, for the quality control

procedure known as Reinterview. The Bureau did not provide enough Partnership Specialists’

attention to this area. State and local governments were confused and frustrated with the lack of up

to date information after the Census was underway.

However, the state put together a very effective outreach program with very little money.

Observations

Due to the Bureau’s Post Office Box non-delivery policy, the town of Reliance (Sweetwater County),

among others, was completely overlooked. This left the LCO staff to deal with these residents as

NRFU cases.

A substantial amount of proxy data was gathered by the Cheyenne LCO. Specifically, about onethird of the L/E cases requiring follow-up in certain areas and one-third to one-fourth of NRFU

cases in some MO/MB communities were completed via proxy.

During the June 29 Monitoring Board visit, the LCO staff reported doubts about the effectiveness

of Reinterview. There was little or no formal training for Reinterview and knowledge was gained

by self-study. To compound problems, receipt of the self-study training materials was delayed,

computer problems also affected Reinterview and there were “no Denver RCC resources were

available to assist them.” In fact, a Regional Technician from the Denver RCC attended the AMFO’s

training course.

However, the Bureau’s Partnership program appeared to be stretched thin as there was only one

Government Partnership Specialist assigned for the states of Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska;

one Community Partnership Specialist for Wyoming, Colorado and Nevada; and one Media Partnership Specialist for both Colorado and Wyoming.

The Wyoming Task Force Census 2000 was well organized and represented a wide variety of

constituencies who met throughout the state. It showed that a state could mount an effective promotional campaign in certain parts of the county for very little money (under $1000 state appropriations). It had an extremely good working relationship with Governor Jim Gehringer and could

serve as a model for other rural states.

One of the task force’s concerns, however, was the lack of real time census data. The task force

wanted more current data than what the Bureau was providing via their website, which stopped
118

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

being updated on April 11, however, when governor’s liaison called the Bureau for more recent

figures, he was denied and referred to the outdated website. Because of limited information, muchneeded assistance could not be provided to counties and towns with low response rates, nor could

media reports be clarified. In particular, a June 5 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle article that said the

census was “complete” was compared to a June 28 article from the same paper that said the census

was “almost complete.”

Additionally, the Wyoming Governor’s liaison said he was contacted only twice by the Denver

RCC and would have liked more communication.

was particularly proud of its improvement with the Wind River Indian Reservation.

During NRFU, Board staff accompanied an enumerator in north-central Cheyenne. The enumerator conducted her responsibilities in a professional manner.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
119

Report to Congress Detroit Region October 1, 2000

Dwight P. Dean serves as Director of the Detroit Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Detroit Region and the Local Census Offices in those states

reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Michigan: Battle Creek LCO; Detroit West LCO

 Ohio: Cincinnati LCO; Cleveland LCO

 West Virginia

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 10,211,411 Housing Units

• 165,764 Square Miles

• 3 States, 226 Counties

• 9 American Indian Reservations

• 4,499 Governmental Units

• 38 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 6 U.S. Senators

• 42 Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• Largest number of single-parent housing units (nationally vs. Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus

and Flint)

• Largest Arabic community in the entire country

• Over 80 percent minority population in Detroit

• Third-largest number of governmental units

• 50 cities with populations greater than 50,000
120
121

BATTLE CREEK

Local Census Office #2412

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 12, 2000

May 17, 2000

June 20, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

66%

NRFU Workload

91,246 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Battle Creek LCO was located in the Old Kent Bank Building, at 67 West Michigan Avenue,

Battle Creek, Michigan. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 147 tracts,

of which 19 (12.93 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 232,584 housing

units. The LCO was responsible for a seven-county area in the southwest area of Michigan, with

Battle Creek and Jackson as its only urban areas.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$11.50 $23.50 $19.00 $15.75 $15.75 $8.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
122

BATTLE CREEK

Local Census Office #2412

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Census Bureau achieved a high initial response rate (66 percent) in the Battle Creek LCO

jurisdiction despite inherent challenges. The LCO jurisdiction is predominantly agrarian and rural

outside of the City of Battle Creek. The mail back result is more impressive considering other

challenges to enumeration such as the large number of apartment dwellers who tend to move frequently. Low local unemployment created additional difficulties in recruiting personnel. Another

obstacle was the presence of a highly vocal anti-government group known as the “Michigan Militia” who view the census as intrusive.

Observations

The LCOM relied on the Detroit Regional Office for support, speaking daily with the Regional

Manager assigned to Battle Creek and neighboring LCOs. According to the LCOM, the Regional

Office was responsive to all requests.

The LCOM praised the Bureau’s national advertising campaign and credits the Bureau for providing needed support that enabled the operation to run smoothly. In particular, the LCOM emphasized that the quality and scope of the Bureau’s Partnership Program contributed to the success of

the office. The office developed a strong organizational plan that included a quick-response UAA

program and NRFU agenda.

The Complete Count Committees in Battle Creek and Jackson were especially helpful in supplementing the LCO’s efforts to mobilize census participation. In addition, QACs and Be Counted

sites fostered wide dissemination of census information that managers said contributed to the high

response mail response rate.

Much of the LCO’s success can be attributed to the dedication and hard work of staff. Despite low

local unemployment, the LCO was able to employ a competent workforce in all areas of the jurisdiction. During enumeration, special attention was paid to adhering to the LCO’s Hard-to-Enumerate plan. Households in HTE areas often received more than the Bureau-mandated three visits and

three telephone calls during NRFU.
123

BATTLE CREEK

Local Census Office #2412

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Battle Creek office appeared to conduct various phases of Census 2000 operations well. Successful recruiting, a stable work force, few HTE tracts, along with a high response rate enabled this

LCO to complete NRFU quickly. The LCO also formed effective relationships with local officials

and CCCs.

Observations

Although the office had a small number of difficult tracts, the LCOM used the Bureau’s HTE plan

to assist employees in enumerating these areas. The primary strategy from the Bureau’s “Toolkit”

was team enumeration, supplemented with 56 QACs and 120 “Be Counted!” sites. A large immigrant population, with all the challenges that brings, characterized some of the rural HTE areas.

The office’s recruiting requirements were successfully met; many of the enumerators hired were

senior citizens. This stable workforce, along with a high response rate, enabled the LCO to be the

first of 18 Michigan offices to complete NRFU.

There were a high number of UAAs reported during the May 17 visit. The original mailout universe was approximately 263,000 and almost 17,000 forms (or over 6 percent) were returned to the

LCO as UAA.

The LCO maintained good working relationships with local officials and CCCs, especially in the

towns of Battle Creek and Jackson. By working together, both groups increased awareness, encouraged census response, and assisted in recruiting. These efforts resulted in a high mail response rate

(70 percent).
124
125

DETROIT WEST

Local Census Office #2415

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 30, 2000

May 3, 2000

June 12, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

61%

NRFU Workload

55,241 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Detroit West LCO was located in the Julian C. Madison Building, 1420 Washington Boulevard, Detroit, Michigan. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 117 tracts

in the LCO, of which 47 (40.17 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were

151,192 housing units. The LCO was responsible for southwest Detroit, primarily an inner city

area. About 78 percent of the population is African-American, 17 percent Hispanic, with the remainder from the Middle East, India and West Africa.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$13.75 $25.75 $21.25 $18.00 $18.00 $10.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
126

DETROIT WEST

Local Census Office #2415

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Positive community involvement, large recruiting numbers and a smoothly run NRFU operation

contributed to the success of this office.

Observations

A hands-on management style helped this LCO solve problems quickly. Board staff was particularly impressed with the LCO manager who was on a first name basis with most LCO employees.

Furthermore, the LCOM reported that she made every attempt to anticipate problems rather than

waiting to receive a middle management report. Her dedication contributed to the office’s success.

Detroit West’s aggressive recruiting effort focused on hiring enumerators to work in their own

neighborhoods. The relatively high level of area unemployment helped the LCO achieve recruiting

success. The office reached 112 percent of its goal by the end of March and finished at 167 percent

of its recruiting goal.

Management created and followed an excellent HTE Action Plan. The plan, drawing on 1990

census data in the Planning Database, summarized the various neighborhoods and living quarters in

western Detroit, including local demographic information. The updated information helped recruiters and field managers direct resources to the proper areas during NRFU.

NRFU generally proceeded smoothly but lagged slightly in some Latino neighborhoods in Southwest Detroit. The managers reported that the neighborhoods are growing so quickly that it was hard

to reach residents. Despite this newer challenge, the LCO finished NRFU operations ahead of the

national deadline on June 21.

“Notice of visit” cards – flyers left by enumerators when respondents were not home – were successfully used as calling cards for people who were not at home. However, the cards were printed

only in English. The flyers may have been hard to read for non-English speakers.

LCO cooperation with local political officials and community leaders was excellent. The efforts of

the Mayor proved particularly helpful to the Census effort. The City of Detroit launched its own

public relations campaign to promote the census. In addition, the Mayor asked for detailed weekly

reports from all of Detroit’s LCOs. To ensure a complete count, the Mayor’s office kept a watchful

eye on all the LCOs to be extremely thorough and occasionally used its own employees to promote

the census.
127

DETROIT WEST

Local Census Office #2415

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Detroit West office was successful at recruiting, outreach and promotional awareness efforts

and obtained a strong mail response rate. The LCO maintained good working relationships with

local officials and the two local CCCs, Wayne County and the city of Detroit.

Observations

The office was able to recruit successfully, ranking seventh among the Detroit RCC’s 42 offices

and with a strong mail response rate, was the sixth among the Region’s offices to complete NRFU.

Detroit Mayor Dennis W. Archer led the city’s efforts to count all its residents, including promotion, town hall meetings, advertising and volunteering. The city’s $300,000 promotional campaign

included distributing 19,000 yard signs, 10,000 bumper stickers and 20,000 window placards encouraging residents to mail back Census forms. The city reached out to 7,000 volunteers in order to

distribute the promotional material. Individuals and corporations could volunteer via the city’s

Web site.

The Bureau cultivated relations with various community-based organizations, including Latino

Family Services, which assisted in identifying cultural facilitators. However, recruitment in Hispanic neighborhoods was difficult. Another Detroit LCO assisted the Detroit West office in hiring

bilingual enumerators.

Because the LCO had gained the community’s confidence early, the office was able to complete the

Final Closeout phase of Census 2000 operations by partnering with the city. Volunteers who signed

up to participate in the city’s “Knowledgeable Neighbor” helped provide proxy data to the Bureau.

In addition to interviews conducted by the Monitoring Board at the Detroit West office, the city

received visits from House Subcommittee on the Census staff in June and General Accounting

Office (GAO) officials in July. GAO conducts investigations, primarily budget and financial, on

behalf of Congress.

The city wanted to succeed. Through teamwork and aggressive efforts, the LCO made significant

strides to ensuring a more accurate enumeration. Approximately 17,000 children may have been

undercounted during the last decennial census. It appears that the city of Detroit made an unprecedented effort so that such an undercount would not occur in 2000.
128
129

CINCINNATI

Local Census Office #2431

Overview

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$12.75 $24.75 $20.25 $17.00 $17.00 $9.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS

Dates of Visits:

April 6, 2000

May 25, 2000

June 26, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

53%

NRFU Workload

65,795 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Cincinnati LCO was located in the Executive Building, at 35 E. Seventh Street, Cincinnati,

Ohio. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 57 tracts, of which 46 (80.70

percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 131,492 housing units.

Pay Rates
130

CINCINNATI

Local Census Office #2431

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Despite encountering an unusual number of operational obstacles, the Cincinnati LCO was able to

complete NRFU well before the July 7 deadline.

Observations

The mail response rate was higher than expected for the LCO at 53 percent, thus reducing the

expected NRFU workload to just over 65,000 housing units. The reduced workload mitigated

some recruiting and hiring problems but the Cincinnati office nevertheless borrowed enumerators

from outside offices to complete enumeration.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may have posed the greatest challenge to a successful count in

Cincinnati. According to census staff, the IRS operates a tax form processing facility nearby that

competed with the census bureau for workers. The IRS facility required about 5,000 applicants—

roughly the same number required by the Cincinnati LCO—in order to fill roughly 1,000 temporary positions. This competition made it extremely difficult for the LCO to find qualified workers.

The Detroit Regional Office responded by issuing extra media advertising and raising enumerator

pay by a few dollars per hour, but the IRS countered with a stronger benefits package. This competition seemed to hamper the LCO’s ability to build a strong applicant pool.

The impressive national advertising campaign increased awareness and census participation in Cincinnati. However, local advertisers were disappointed that some of the advertising buys could not

have been handled locally. The New Haven LCOM echoed this sentiment.

Although the LCO faced some problems that were out of its control, managers seemed to place

blame rather than find creative remedies. For example, the LCOM complained that operations

might have been hindered because supplies were late. Yet other LCOs around the country who had

similar problems were able to imaginatively find solutions without compromising operations.

A few prominent community groups representing residents in Over The Rhine, a historically poor,

African American neighborhood, voiced concern that not enough people from their community

were hired as enumerators. They became especially frustrated when enumerators from neighboring

LCOs came to Cincinnati to help finish the count in mid-June. LCO management was aware of the

community groups’ concerns and followed procedure to hire qualified applicants to work in their

own neighborhoods.
131

CINCINNATI

Local Census Office #2431

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Cincinnati LCO was challenged by low mailback response rates, a high number of UAAs, high

turnover among employees and ineffective recruitment from HTE neighborhoods.

Observations

The Cincinnati LCO was ranked last in NRFU productivity, among the Detroit RCC’s 42 offices

until workers from West Virginia and the Blue Ash (OH) LCO arrived to assist. These reinforcements helped the office complete NRFU on June 19, a day before the RCC’s goal for the completion of NRFU and two-and-a-half weeks before the Bureau’s July 7 deadline. The LCO could have

prepared better for those neighborhoods that were anticipated to be the hardest NRFU cases. Additionally, the LCO’s mailback response rate was 53 percent, the lowest of any major city in the

Detroit RCC.

We noted a high rate of turnover (reported at 73 percent during the May 25 Monitoring Board visit)

and the inability to meet the office’s hiring goal (77 percent of its qualified applicant goal, according to the April 20 national recruiting report). During our May 25 visit, in the midst of NRFU, the

LCOM reported being understaffed by 210 enumerators. Astonishingly, the LCOM reported no

employees had been hired from the office’s HTE neighborhoods. The LCO was ineffective in

hiring people from the Lower Basin area, the Over The Rhine area and the Winton Hill neighborhood.

Offers of hiring assistance made by various organizations were not acted upon; instead, the Bureau

‘imported’ workers from other offices. Specifically, the New Perspective Community Center offered 50 qualified applicants and the Hamilton County Department of Human Services offered 40

qualified welfare-to-work graduates. The Cincinnati City Council passed a resolution expressing

concern and dissatisfaction regarding hiring practices at the local census office.

We are also concerned with the 65,788 forms returned to the LCO as UAA, as reported during the

May 25 visit.

The office’s 83 QACs and 147 “Be Counted!” sites served only 17 people, which raised questions

regarding their location, staffing levels and hours of service.

The LCO was in a high crime area. In addition, a fire and two break-ins led to hiring an armed

security guard.
132
133

CLEVELAND

Local Census Office #2433

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 23, 2000

May 2, 2000

June 9, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

49%

NRFU Workload

73,426 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (Entirely Maiout/Mailback, mainly urban , hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Cleveland LCO was located in the North Point Tower, at 1001 Lakeside Avenue, Cleveland,

Ohio. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there are 166 tracts in the LCO, of which

112 (67.47 percent) are HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 142,401 housing units. The

LCO was responsible for most of the city of Cleveland.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$12.50 $24.50 $20.00 $16.75 $16.75 $9.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
134

CLEVELAND

Local Census Office #2433

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Cleveland office did good work based on our three visits. Excellent recruiting and HTE planning highlight the success of the office.

Observations

The Cleveland LCO reached 100 percent of its recruiting goal by our first visit on March 23, before

many other LCOs. In the end, the LCO reached 108 percent of its goal. With HTE tracts comprising nearly 85 percent of the LCO’s tract total and a generally low mail response rate (49 percent),

this recruiting success was crucial.

The office produced and implemented a well-organized Hard-To-Enumerate Action Plan. The

LCO’s enumeration plan noted that some areas previously considered easy to enumerate during the

1990 census would need far greater attention in the 2000 Census due to changing demographics.

Most HTE tracts were in low income and immigrant neighborhoods, some of which changed since

1990.

The LCOM said that general apathy and an increased number of HTE neighborhoods contributed to

the mail response rate. However, the national advertising campaign seemed to keep mail response

from falling below 1990 levels. The office was behind regional goals for completion of NRFU

when we last visited on June 13 but appeared to be on track to complete the operation by the

national deadline.

The LCO operated 98 QACs, each of which doubled as a Be Counted site. The LCO also operated

about 85 additional Be Counted sites. Public use of these sites was moderate and the LCO manager

considered them worth-while efforts to maintain good relations with the community.

Management was slightly frustrated that qualified applicants could refuse work three times before

they were removed from selection lists. Many of these applicants made clear that they could not

work during the first call but were called twice more because of the Bureau’s policy. Management

felt this was unfair to other qualified applicants who might have been called sooner.

Bureau policy requires qualified applicants, those with the highest test scores and who pass the

security background checks, to refuse work three times before the applicant’s name can be removed

from selection lists. Presumably, some qualified applicants would be able to work at a later date

even though they refused once or twice in the past. The LCOM noted that the vast majority of

people who refused once were not available to work at any later time. He suggested that in 2010,

selection clerks be authorized to remove qualified applicants from selection lists who do not wish to

work after the first inquiry. This new policy could allow recruiters to find available workers more

quickly.
135

CLEVELAND

Local Census Office #2433

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Cleveland LCO was supported by two local CCCs and other partner organizations. Additional support came from elected officials as well as innovative outreach efforts. The LCOM did

not want to repeat 1990’s mailback response rate and focused significant efforts on promotion and

outreach.

Observations

The office’s management staff wrote an HTE Action Plan to address its difficult areas, a copy of

which was not provided for evaluation. According to the LCOM, team and blitz enumeration

strategies were going to be used to target HTE neighborhoods. In the Lower Westside neighborhood, a large monolingual Japanese population presented additional challenges.

The office’s recruiting efforts were average, ranking 25th among the Detroit RCC’s 42 offices

according to the final April 20 national recruiting report. The office had met 100 percent of its

qualified applicant goal and had little margin to account for attrition. The LCOM reported during

our May 2 visit that the office had a “high turnover rate,” compounded by others who would complete training, but not begin their job.

The LCO cultivated relations with various organizations, including the city of Cleveland’s Metro

Housing Authority, which assisted in identifying trusted third parties in areas like housing projects.

Cleveland Public Power assisted with mass mailings. Major efforts had been made in outreach to

the rapidly growing Hispanic and Asian communities.

The Bureau maintained good working relationships with local elected officials and the two local

CCCs, Cuyahoga County and the city of Cleveland. Both CCCs operated impressive marketing

efforts and committed funding for outreach. The city appropriated $30,000 for various programs

and the county appropriated $25,000 for promotional material, encouraging residents to mail back

census forms.

The response rate was the main concern of the LCOM as related to CMB staff during our second

visit. The LCOM felt confident that his office could improve upon the 1990 response rate due to

improved outreach. The city of Cleveland’s overall 1990 response rate was 47 percent. Final

figures for 2000 put their response rate at 57 percent.
136
137

Report to Congress Kansas City Region October 1, 2000

Henry L. Palacios serves as Director of the Kansas City Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Kansas City Region and the Local Census Offices in those

states reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Arkansas: Little Rock LCO

 Iowa

 Kansas

 Minnesota: Minneapolis West LCO; St. Paul LCO

 Missouri

 Oklahoma

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 9,824,377 Housing Units

• 418,295 Square Miles

• 6 States, 558 Counties

• 21 American Indian Reservations and 17 Tribal Jurisdiction Statistical Areas

• 8,721 Governmental Units

• 36 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 12 U.S. Senators

• 36 Local Census Offices and one additional Field Office in Anoka County, Minnesota

Additional items of interest include:

• Largest number of governmental units

• Largest number of counties

• Third among regions in the number of states within any Region

• Has been the home of the Popultion Center of the U.S. since 1960

• 18 percent of the Hmong population of the U.S. lives in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St.

Paul (1990 census)

• Has five states with populations of persons 65 and older greater than the national average

• Had four states with greater than 50 percent turnout in the 1994 elections
138
139

LITTLE ROCK

Local Census Office #2613

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 6, 2000

May 23, 2000

July 5, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

64%

NRFU Workload

106,366 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Little Rock LCO was located at 10801 Executive Center, Little Rock, Arkansas. According to

the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 131 tracts, of which 10 (7.63 percent) one-third

were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 248,354 housing units. The LCO was responsible for eight counties in central Arkansas, where the major components of the population mix

were roughly 80 percent white and 18 percent African-American.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$10.25 $22.25 $17.75 $14.50 $14.50 $7.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
140

LITTLE ROCK

Local Census Office #2613

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

This office was responsible for operations in and around the cities of Little Rock and North Little

Rock, roughly equal to the boundaries of the Second Congressional District in Arkansas. The mailresponse rate of 63 percent was higher than the 61 percent rate anticipated.

Observations

The LCO received over 6,400 applications, which was 98 percent of its overall goal. Despite this

success, the office was short-staffed in some areas such as Pulaski County. Turnover was also a

significant problem in Little Rock. Due to these factors, and the problems posed by the large number of part-time workers, the office enlisted the help of 14 enumerators from the Pine Bluff LCO in

the final two weeks of NRFU.

Little Rock found that radio advertisements and “word-of-mouth” contributed most to its recruiting

efforts. To boost the recruiting pool, the LCO undertook a successful door-to-door blitz recruitment campaign.

Presumably, the higher than expected mail back rate allowed the office to complete NRFU operations on June 18, ten days ahead of the national completion date.

The three partnership specialists who worked out of the Little Rock LCO regularly interacted with

the ten Complete Count Committees (CCCs) in its jurisdiction. Each county had its own CCC,

headed by a local judge, that included representatives from a wide-range of ethnic, religious, and

cultural groups. And while the community was generally responsive to the Bureau’s efforts, some

respondent resistance to the long form was encountered. Management believed that the “Census

Skeptic” comments made by certain national political and media personalities contributed to this

resistance and served to undermine public cooperation.

LCO staff was proud of the fact that they succeeded in establishing 149 QACs. Superior Bank

made every one of its branches available to the Bureau, as did many libraries, churches, and grocery

stores. Local partners picked up the costs of producing and placing ads that advertised QAC locations and hours of operation. While some contacts may not have been recorded, the office reported

only 573 recorded contacts.

LCO staff regularly updated local political leaders on the state of Census operations. Of these, the

Secretaries of State and Education were cited by the LCOM and partnership specialists as being the

most helpful and involved.
141

LITTLE ROCK

Local Census Office #2613

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Little Rock office demonstrated that strong state and local government support can assist the

Bureau in getting a substantial number of volunteers to improve recruiting, partnership and planning efforts and ensure a more accurate enumeration.

Observations

Based on information supplied by the Kansas City RCC, the Little Rock LCO management staff

wrote an HTE Action Plan to address its difficult tracts. According to office’s AMFO, the demographics of the area had changed significantly since 1990, and while the RCC reportedly had been

informed of these changes, the original HTE plan was based on outdated information from 1998.

The LCO staff worked with the HTE plan and made necessary adjustments, but suggested that less

effort would have been required if their suggestions had been considered. The Kansas City RCC

provided a copy of the plan to the Monitoring Board.

Though the office’s recruiting efforts were not successful in reaching its bilingual (Spanish) enumerator hiring goal, creative cooperation with the University of Arkansas provided a crucial number of language student volunteers to accomplish the task. In addition to Spanish, these students

provided language support in Croatian and Chinese. Within Pulaski County, in its high-crime area,

the LCO management staff described problems with recruiting and retention of enumerators (reported at 50 percent during our May 23 visit).

Two of the most common characteristics of the HTE neighborhoods were the high numbers of

renters and negative attitudes towards the federal government. The LCO management staff reported the blitz enumeration strategy was effective in high crime and mobile home areas in Pulaski

and Selene Counties, while the team enumeration strategy was utilized in apartment complexes.

Management’s decision to shift Hispanic enumerators into Hispanic neighborhoods successfully

assisted in enumeration.

Ten local CCCs, chaired by county judges, established strong working relationships with the Bureau. State and local governments lent assistance to Census 2000 as well. Many of the LCO’s

QACs (several of which we visited on April 6) and “Be Counted!” sites were staffed with volunteers, who served about 573 people. Other partnering organizations provided assistance to the

Little Rock LCO, demonstrating how important these relationships between the Bureau and its

associates are. For instance, the local Emergency Management System provided correct maps for

enumerators, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assisted in the

identification of HTE neighborhoods.

During our May 23 visit, we accompanied the office’s AMFO, rather than an enumerator, in enumerating several households in an HTE section of Pulaski County.
142
143

MINNEAPOLIS WEST

Local Census Office #2627

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 6, 2000

May 15, 2000

June 23, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

79%

NRFU Workload

60,294 housing units

LCO Type

Type B Office (entirely mailout/mailback)

Geographic Description

The Minneapolis West LCO was located in the Braemar Office Park, on the second floor of 8000

West 78th Street in Edina, Minnesota. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there

were 152 tracts in the LCO, of which none were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were

252,407 housing units. The LCO encompassed all of Hennepin County, with the exception of

Minneapolis, Fort Snelling, Richfield and St. Anthony. The office was responsible for 37 municipalities and was primarily suburban and ethnically and linguistically homogenous.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$13.75 $25.75 $21.25 $18.00 $18.00 $10.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
144

MINNEAPOLIS WEST

Local Census Office #2627

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Minneapolis West office did excellent work based on our three visits. The LCO’s ability to

meet its recruiting goals, hire highly qualified employees and create community awareness, contributed to the success of the operation. A newcomer to the census, the LCOM also deserves credit

for his leadership, organization and efficiency.

Observations

Community outreach played a significant role in the success of the office. The LCOM said the tenmember local Complete Count Committee was well organized and very involved. He also credited

a Bloomington cable access station for its focus on the census.

As in LCOs around the country, the LCOM credited the national advertising campaign for raising

census awareness and making NRFU operations run more smoothly.

There were 15 Question Assistance Centers and 71 Be Counted sites in the LCO jurisdiction, all of

which were said to be located in high-traffic, high-visibility areas. These programs were well

utilized and effective in communicating the census message.

Despite the area’s low unemployment, the office was able to meet its recruiting goals and attract a

large, highly qualified, applicant pool — the lowest test score among those hired was 87 percent.

There were, however, some concerns from senior citizens at the office that could only work parttime in order not to lose their social security benefits. Hiring bilingual enumerators was a priority

as large pockets of Somali, Russian, Latino and Arab immigrant communities reside in the LCO

jurisdiction. The LCO employed more than 800 enumerators during NRFU’s peak.

The LCO designed and implemented a very effective HTE plan. One of the greatest obstacles the

office overcame was that of “snow birds,” residents who spend the winter months in states with

warmer climates. Enumerators were disappointed to learn from residents that many warmer climate states encouraged “snow birds” to mail-back their census forms from their temporary residences. This caused confusion with some residents, as many claimed they already mailed in their

census forms.

The LCO was aided by the experience of a former insurance claims evaluator as the supervisor for

the re-interview process. Around the country, LCOMs attributed the preponderance of re-interview

cases to human error rather than malicious intent. Only one instance of fraud was detected in this

office causing all of the enumerator’s 193 cases to be re-enumerated.

[Continued on page 146]
145

MINNEAPOLIS WEST

Local Census Office #2627

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Minneapolis West office had high response rates and a successful NRFU phase, however the

numerous changes among the Twin Cities-area LCOMs were disconcerting to state and local officials.

Observations

The Minneapolis West LCO, which includes all of Hennepin county (the LCO did not cover Minneapolis, Richfield or Fort Snelling) was successful in achieving high response rates. Hennepin

County finished sixth among the nation’s 100 most populous counties in updated Census 2000

response rates. The September 19 updated rate represents the percentage of housing units that

mailed back a questionnaire, filed it over the Internet, completed a form over the telephone or

returned a “Be Counted!” form obtained from a QAC. In 1990, 75 percent of the housing units in

the county returned their forms, in 2000, 77 percent did, which is an increase of two percentage

points. Maple Grove was one of the notable cities in the LCO’s area of responsibility. In this

rapidly growing community, with many new developments and new businesses, 88 percent of the

city’s housing units returned their forms. Suburbs, like Bloomington (83 percent, goal 85), Eden

Prairie (83 percent, goal 77) and Edina (85 percent, goal 89) also had high rates of return.

Despite having high mailback response rates, NRFU success and few HTE areas, local governments and community organizations appeared to lose confidence in the LCO’s overall managerial

ability because of LCOM changes. The Minneapolis West LCOM was one of several managers in

the Twin Cities area who had been reassigned to fill gaps in other offices. These shifts appeared to

erode working relationships that are necessary to a successful census.

During the June 23 Monitoring Board visit, we accompanied two employees to observe address

verification firsthand in the municipality of Minnetonka Beach. About 25 percent of the residents

of this municipality did not receive census forms, because the Census Bureau did not deliver questionnaires to Post Office Boxes.

The Hennepin West CCC consisted of the seven county commissioners and seven more at-large

members. The Hennepin County government provided funding for five mailings and other promotions.
146

The LCO finished NRFU on June 17, six days before Regional Office’s deadline. The LCO manager said productivity increased near the end of the process because employees learned to cooperate

better and managers learned to re-distribute their workloads more efficiently.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
147

ST. PAUL

Local Census Office #2631

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 29, 2000

May 4, 2000

June 13, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

76%

NRFU Workload

69,798 housing units

LCO Type

Type B Office (entirely mailout/mailback)

Geographic Description

The St. Paul LCO was located on the fourth floor of the Army Corps of Engineers Building at 190

East Fifth Street, St. Paul, Minnesota. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there

were 169 tracts in the LCO, of which 22 (13.02 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB,

there were 252,664 housing units. The LCO included Ramsey County, part of Washington County

and featured the city of St. Paul and its surrounding suburbs. There were considerable communities

of color: Southeast Asians (Hmong), African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans

(Chippewa, Ojibwe and Sioux).

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$13.75 $25.75 $21.25 $18.00 $18.00 $10.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
148

ST. PAUL

Local Census Office #2631

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

This LCO achieved a high degree of success recruiting temporary employees, conducting NRFU

operations and maintaining an atmosphere of excellence.

Observations

All recruiting and hiring goals were met. The office worked in cooperation with the Mayor’s office

in joint recruiting events that contributed to the LCO’s success.

Large multi-unit buildings with security posed initial difficulty to NRFU enumerators. The City

worked with the LCO to send letters to the buildings describing the obligations and responsibilities

of respondents under Title 13 of the U.S. Code which requires all persons living in the country to

respond to the census. This letter helped enumerators gain entry to previously inaccessible buildings.

Receiving a significantly higher than expected mail response (76 percent) rate, the NRFU workload

was therefore reduced by well over 40,000 housing units. Indeed, the LCO was successful at

accomplishing its NRFU workload. Identifying difficult and under producing areas in the LCO

allowed for targeted enumeration methods such as blitz enumeration, which enabled the completion of NRFU ahead of the national deadline by June 21.

Addresses identified for final attempt procedures were only assigned to proven high producing

crew leaders and enumerators to ensure that the best effort was made to complete the interviews.

This also served to maintain a high level of quality in the responses collected.

LCO staff were clearly dedicated to collecting quality data. Only one enumerator’s work had to be

redone due to falsification.

A close partnership with the Mayor’s office to increase participation focused especially on the 22

HTE tracts (of the 169 census tracts). This partnership clearly reaped the benefits of a high mail

response rate.
149

ST. PAUL

Local Census Office #2631

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The St. Paul LCO was fortunate to have a hardworking and effective CCC. However, state officials

were disappointed with the level of support received from the Kansas City RCC. Additionally, the

Post Office Box non-delivery policy left many residents without questionnaires.

Observations

The St. Paul LCO was ranked last by productivity among Minnesota’s eight LCOs and 31 of 36

among the Kansas City RCC’s 36 offices. Many of the NRFU cases that were difficult to complete

were in neighborhoods the LCO did not anticipate.

In addition, on June 6th, the St. Paul Tribune reported that two police officers posed as census

enumerators. This incident received national attention, ocurred in a HTE area during NRFU, may

have produced bad publicity for the census, and did cause concern for the Census Bureau. At this

time the city is not taking disciplinary against these two officers. CMBC, however has written the

U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, expressing our belief that this matter should be reviewed further.

Since census forms were not delivered to households that rely on Post Office Boxes, residents of

three towns in the LCO’s territory did not receive questionnaires during the MO/MB phase of

Census 2000 operations.

During the June 13 Monitoring Board visit, the LCOM estimated that Reinterview was only 90

percent successful and attributed most of the discrepancies to Crew Leaders’ District, rather than

CLs, reviewing the questionnaires. She said this work arrangement relieved CLs of a great deal of

responsibility and contributed to enumerators’ errors.

Repeated offers of aid made by the city of St. Paul and the Metropolitan Council to provide phone

bank employees, statisticians and demographers were not accepted. In fact, in a March 27 letter to

U.S. Representative Bruce Vento (D-4th), the city described its efforts to assist the Bureau in an

effective partnership as being met with “silence, dismissiveness or outright disinterest.” State officials were disappointed that the Kansas City RCC had ceased weekly conference calls among governors’ liaisons in early February 2000.

The rotation of LCOMs in Minnesota, especially in the Twin Cities area, frustrated numerous stakeholders. Local governments and community organizations lost confidence in the Bureau’s overall

managerial ability. The LCOM was one of several managers in the Twin Cities area who had been

reassigned to fill gaps in other offices.

The city’s CCC was a model of effective community outreach. Led by Mayor Norm Coleman’s

staff, the committee made dedicated efforts to include Hmong, Native Americans, African-Ameri-
150

cans and Hispanics. One issue of vital importance to the city was the Bureau’s QACs. The city’s

extensive promotional material listed 42 QACs, but the LCOM reported during the March 29 Monitoring Board visit that the original goal was to place one QAC in each tract (about 170). Reflecting

the poor communication between governments, 79 QACs were listed in a March 9 update to the

Bureau’s web site.

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]
151

Report to Congress Los Angeles Region October 1, 2000

John E. Reeder Jr. served as Director of the Los Angeles Regional Census Center during the 2000

Census operations, but has since retired.

Following are the states located in the Los Angeles Region and the Local Census Offices in those

states reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 California (Southern): Compton LCO; Los Angeles West Central LCO; San Diego South LCO

 Hawaii

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 8,836,874 Housing Units

• 76,200 Square Miles

• 2 States, 24 Counties

• 44 American Indian Reservations

• 362 Governmental Units

• 37 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 4 U.S. Senators

• 41 Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• Third in population concentration behind New York and Philadelphia

• Five counties are among the top 10 gaining population within the U.S.

• Region has four of the top counties receiving direct Federal expenditures (Los Angeles, San

Diego, Orange and Honolulu)

• The greater Los Angeles metropolitan area has a Gross Product that would rank it 11th among

the world’s nations

• Three of the region’s counties are among the top 10 in business employment and establishments

(Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange)
152
153

COMPTON

Local Census Office #3215

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 13, 2000

May 24, 2000

June 27, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

64%

NRFU Workload

48,945 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Compton LCO was located in Room 1550 of the Gateway Plaza Shopping Center at 1610 West

Rosecrans Avenue in Compton, California. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan,

there were 72 tracts in the LCO, of which 30 (41.67 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990

PDB, there were 127,404 housing units. The LCO included five cities — Compton, Gardena,

Lawndale, Hawthorne and Los Angeles. All 18 tracts in Compton were HTE. The LCO’s largest

populations are African-Americans, Hispanics and Asian-Americans; major languages are English

and Spanish.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$14.00 $26.00 $21.00 $18.25 $18.25 $10.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
154

COMPTON

Local Census Office #3215

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Compton LCO quickly surpassed its recruiting and hiring goals and NRFU proceeded smoothly.

Management fostered a friendly, orderly atmosphere that encouraged workers to be more productive. These feats were especially impressive given the high percentage of HTE tracts in the LCO’s

district—60 out of 72 tracts.

Observations

The Compton LCO exceeded virtually every goal measured by the Bureau. Mail response was 64

percent, an astounding 15 percent higher than the Bureau expected. This high mail response contributed to the office’s ability to finish NRFU operations ahead of the national deadline.

The office met recruiting, hiring, retention and enumeration goals in exemplary fashion. Most notably, it finished with the highest number of recruits relative to its goal in the region—204 percent.

Selectors hired enumerators to work in their own neighborhoods. Managers cited low employee

turnover and a high unemployment rate as major reasons for success in the field. A contingent of

elderly women bolstered the strong, consistent staff.

The LCO was particularly well organized. Upon each visit, Board staff received a thorough presentation from all managers. Managers were obviously proud of their work. During our visits, top

managers reported working 60 hour weeks on average (usually without over-time pay) during NRFU.

The AMA reported working 14-16 hour days routinely.

Local government and community leaders held weekly strategy meetings to improve mail response

rates and encourage cooperation with enumerators during NRFU. The State of California allocated

$24.7 million to assist localities with their census effort. As the nation’s most undercounted state in

1990, California improved its mail response rate by 5 percentage points, beating the national average with 70 percent.
155

COMPTON

Local Census Office #3215

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Compton office showed how strong community-based organizations and dedicated efforts by

the LCO staff can reverse negative stereotypes and prevent failure. During a June 26 hearing held

in Los Angeles, the CMBC noted that such outreach was crucial in getting necessary information to

the public.

Observations

During all three visits, the Monitoring Board staff received professional-quality presentations that

were consistent with the office’s efforts throughout Census 2000 operations. The LCO staff cultivated relations with various community-based organizations, such as the NAACP, Urban League,

MALDEF and various Asian-American groups, as well as programs such as Welfare-to-Work and

GAIN (Greater Avenue to Independence) that encouraged people to be counted.

To put this census in perspective, the city’s 1990 results were considered the worst in the State of

California. The undercount in the city of Compton was attributed to gang activities, apathy, housing issues, welfare problems and population diversity. It appears that efforts were undertaken so

that a similar undercount will not occur in 2000.

Residents of the Compton LCO improved the MO/MB Initial Response Rate dramatically. The

2000 Census mail return rate was 63.67 percent, compared to the 1990 rate of 47.50 percent, an

increase of over 16 percentage points.

The good working relationships with local CCCs and community organizations were critical to the

office’s ability to maintain staffing levels. Although the office had high turnover and dropout rates

and almost 900 applicants who failed the background check, the office had far more applicants and

trained employees than were required for NRFU.

Because the LCO had gained the greater community’s confidence early, the office was able to

implement its HTE plan in certain areas requiring different enumeration strategies. For instance,

small teams of four to five enumerators or 10-15 enumerators were deployed to various apartment

complexes with positive results. The office’s 52 QACs and 86 “Be Counted!” sites made contact

with 4,300 people, an impressive amount of the population.

Through teamwork and aggressive efforts, the LCO made significant strides to ensure a full enumeration.
156
157

LOS ANGELES WEST CENTRAL

Local Census Office #3227

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 17, 2000

May 25, 2000

June 28, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

56%

NRFU Workload

60,442 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Los Angeles West Central LCO was at 8510 Higuera Street in Culver City, California. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 62 tracts in the LCO, of which 46 (74.19

percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 125,789 housing units. The LCO’s

largest populations were Hispanics (51 percent), Asian Americans, African-Americans and whites.

The office was located three miles outside the LCO’s boundaries. The General Services Administration was unable to secure a lease in the Los Angeles West Central region. This LCO was also

known as the Culver City East LCO. The Culver City LCO (3249) was at the same complex.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$14.00 $26.00 $21.00 $18.25 $18.25 $10.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
158

LOS ANGELES WEST CENTRAL

Local Census Office #3227

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

This office faced language, poverty, population density, and crime challenges, but overcame these

obstacles with hard work and good planning.

Observations

The LCO district is very large and racially and ethnically diverse. Of the estimated 940,517 residents in the LCO district, approximately 51 percent are Hispanic, 13 percent African American, 10

percent white, 19 percent Pacific Islander, 6 percent Asian, and 1 percent American Indian. Generally, Koreans live to the north, blacks to the south, and whites to the northwest. Hispanics are more

widely distributed.

The LCO’s office space was located in Culver City, a couple miles west of the office’s jurisdiction.

Apparently, GSA could not find appropriate office space on a short-term lease within the LCO area.

Managers, who were also frustrated by a dearth in parking around the LCO, speculated that a better

location should have been found.

In 44 of the 77 tracts, LCO managers reported little trouble hiring and retaining the required number of enumerators. Managers said that word spread quickly throughout the Latino community

(which reportedly has a higher than average unemployment rate) that the Census Bureau offered

good pay and flexible hours. The LCO did, however, have some trouble hiring whites and bilinguals

in various languages, including Spanish. To deal with this deficiency, the office “borrowed” several bilingual enumerators from neighboring LCOs.

LCO managers reported that older women were among the most convincing enumerators. In addition, a team of multicultural enumerators known as the “dream team” was very effective in certain

HTE areas.

The Board met with community leaders of Los Angeles at a hearing in Los Angeles on June 26,

2000. At this meeting, the Board was impressed with the area’s CCC activities such as the two

thousand blankets donated which helped enumerators count the homeless. As an inducement, enumerators gave a blanket to each person who filled out a form.

In addition, the State of California allocated $24.7 million to assist localities with their census

effort. As the nation’s most undercounted state in 1990, California improved its mail response rate

by 5 percentage points, beating the national average with 70 percent.
159

LOS ANGELES WEST CENTRAL

Local Census Office #3227

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Los Angeles West Central office faced several challenges, including a high number of HTE

tracts and a linguistically isolated Hispanic community. The LCO chose to work with local partners to meet recruiting goals, establish QACs, and work effectively with hard-to-count neighborhoods.

Observations

In spite of several hurdles, the office was still ranked near the top by recruiting among the Los

Angeles RCC’s 41 offices and thus had far more applicants and trained employees than were required for NRFU. Although the local CCC was not formed until December 1999, it was effective

in referring facilitators and enumerators for employment. Its most significant public event was held

at the Baldwin Hills Mall, where 2,000 attended. The good working relationships with the CCC

and community organizations were critical to the office’s ability to maintain staffing levels. Because heavy gang activity and high crime rates challenged the community, almost 2,900 applicants

failed the background check.

The LCO management consistently noted many Hispanics (the dominant ethnic group in this LCO)

could not communicate effectively in English and thus could not pass the English Proficiency Test.

Because they could not hire Spanish-speaking enumerators, the LCO was forced to share bilingual

enumerators with a neighboring office.

During the May 25 visit, Monitoring Board staff received troubling reports that highlighted the

importance of a facilitating CCC. Specifically, we learned that enumerators had been shot at,

threatened, and received threatening messages on cellular phones and pagers. These incidents affected the LCOM’s ability to communicate with enumerators in a timely manner.

Bureau staff cultivated relations with various community-based organizations like the NAACP,

Urban League, Brotherhood Crusade, MALDEF and Korean Federation. These organizations helped

established almost 70 QACs, which were instrumental in answering respondents’ questions.

The inability to locate an office within the boundaries of the LCO posed significant problems for

many census stakeholders. During days when film production was scheduled, private security and

local police blocked off a four-block radius. The building had poor signage, was very hard to find

and had only three parking spaces for its employees. The office had a high no-show rate for job

applicants scheduled for enumerator tests and oversight agencies had difficulty visiting the office.
160
161

SAN DIEGO SOUTH

Local Census Office #3236

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 31, 2000

May 4, 2000

June 13, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

65%

NRFU Workload

48,602 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The San Diego South LCO was located at 649 Anita Street in Chula Vista, California. According

to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 72 tracts in the LCO, of which 3 (4.17 percent)

were HTE, due primarily to heavy gang activity reported in Imperial Beach and San Ysidro. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 118,478 housing units. The LCO’s largest populations were

Hispanics, Filipino Americans (concentrated in National City) and Japanese Americans (in Chula

Vista). There were also various ethnic groups in the University area.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$12.00 $24.00 $19.50 $16.25 $16.25 $9.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
162

SAN DIEGO SOUTH

Local Census Office #3236

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

San Diego South registered a 66 percent mail response rate, 18 percent greater than anticipated.

This initial success was attributed to both the Census Bureau’s and the State of California’s census

advertising campaign, along with excellent outreach from the LCO and the local community.

Observations

The higher than expected mail response reduced the NRFU workload thus enabling the office to

focus its attention on enumeration and enumerator safety in blighted areas. Most impressively,

management recruited representatives from local gangs to help enumerators safely navigate particularly troubled neighborhoods. Furthermore, police detectives helped enumerators avoid conflict by teaching them how to interpret graffiti, tattoos, and body language.

Covering an ethnically and geographically diverse jurisdiction, the LCOM reported that its ability

to complete its NRFU workload of just over 48,000 households was greatly enhanced by promotional media campaigns sponsored by the Bureau and the State of California. Over 10 different

languages were used during NRFU operations spanning the southern part of the city of San Diego

to the desert along the Mexican border.

Facilitators accompanied enumerators to gain access to communities traditionally leery of the census. Facilitators were also effectively used in the Boston South, Denver, El Paso and Portland

LCOs. Both the Board and the LCOM agree that the cultural facilitator program was effective.

Enumerators could benefit from photo-identification badges in this urban LCO. Badges used during this census identified enumerators by signature only. Residents might be more comfortable

with a picture of each enumerator on his or her badge. Managers in this, the Orleans Parish and

New York North LCOs mentioned this suggestion.

Upon our third visit, the LCOM confirmed news stories in mid-May that the LCO had unknowingly hired an employee with an unacceptable criminal record. The employee had a history of using

borrowed social security numbers. The LCOM reported the employee’s work performance was

excellent and investigators searching his home found no evidence of malfeasance. However, he

resigned immediately after the stories became public and a local criminal investigation ensued, thus

resolving the issue.

The LCO received excellent cooperation from local officials and community activists. During the

Board’s Hearing in San Diego on June 22, we heard how two dozen programs, supported by nearly

$400,000 in state grants, were launched to target minority populations, the homeless, low-income

[Continued on page 164]
163

SAN DIEGO SOUTH

Local Census Office #3236

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The San Diego South LCO had a successful mail back response rate. Response rates for four cities

in this LCO’s area were over 70 percent and two others were above the national average of 65

percent. However, we are concerned with the high number of UAAs, as well as procedures used in

Close Out.

Observations

Perhaps the office’s most significant event was coverage by national media of an enumerator who

was found to be a convicted felon. As reported by the Associated Press on May 17, the parolee,

who had been convicted of stealing Social Security numbers and credit cards, had worked as a

payroll processor. The employee provided a false name and social security number as part of the

job application. Although the person was a model employee and promoted to crew leader, he was

eventually discovered and terminated. His census materials were returned and the work redone in

order to preserve the data’s integrity.

To the LCO’s credit, employee turnover was very low. With unemployment less than two percent

in San Diego County, the office’s ethnically diverse staff of almost 1,100 enumerators included

Navy and Marine retirees and the young and old. The LCOM, a non-citizen himself, was in a unique

position to address one of the office’s largest challenges—counting undocumented immigrants.

The LCO was challenged by a high number of UAAs, as reported during the March 31 visit. The

original mailout universe was approximately 143,000 and almost 15 percent (or over 21,000 forms)

were returned to the LCO as UAA.

We are concerned with the close-out procedures reported during the June 13 visit. Reportedly, the

office’s procedure (used to complete the final five percent of its NRFU workload) was simply to

make contact and perform a general observation to gather gender, age and ethnic background. The

LCO staff did not elaborate on their decision to make less than the six required contacts or make a

more aggressive attempt to gain additional information. The LCO’s progress during NRFU was so

rapid that about 300 enumerators were temporarily assigned to the San Diego Downtown (3235)

LCO in order to help complete that office’s operations.

To prevent gang-related violence, enumerators worked with the local CCC and law enforcement

and other community partners to develop prudent strategies for enumeration in certain areas.

The San Diego South LCO experienced delays in timely approval of services like parking lot security lights and weekend janitorial services. It seemed that recruiting efforts would have been easier

had these accommodations been in place from the beginning. In future censuses, these services

could be helpful in trying to compete for temporary employees in a tight job market.
164

people and the elderly about the importance of returning census forms. San Diego’s City Council

sponsored a census theater troupe that performed in both Spanish and English. The Mayor and City

Council of Chula Vista were particularly active in promoting the census.

Furthermore, the State of California allocated $24.7 million to assist localities with their census

effort. As the nation’s most undercounted state in 1990, California improved its mail response rate

by 5 percentage points, beating the national average with 70 percent.

An enumerator told Board staff that she would have preferred to wear a photo-identification badge,

especially in urban areas where residents are most concerned about security. Badges used during

this census identified enumerators by signature only. Residents might be more comfortable with

each enumerator’s photograph on his or her badge.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
165

Report to Congress New York Region October 1, 2000

Lester A. Farthing serves as Director of the New York Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the New York Region and the Local Census Offices in those

states visited by the Census Monitoring Board:

 New Jersey (Northern): Hudson County North LCO

 New York: Brooklyn South LCO; New York North LCO; New York Northwest LCO

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 7,017,763 Housing Units

• 309 Square Miles

• 2 States, 19 Counties

• 2 American Indian Reservations

• 478 Governmental Units

• 29 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 4 U.S. Senators

• 39 Local Census Offices

• 28 Type “A” Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• Leads nation in population and multi-unit dwellings

• Largest number of hard-to-enumerate urban LCOs

• An extremely ethnically diverse population

• Many languages other than English spoken at home

• Region is vertical in nature
166
167

HUDSON COUNTY NORTH

Local Census Office #2215

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 12, 2000

May 19, 2000

June 27, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

61%

NRFU Workload

49,312 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Hudson County North LCO was located at 2201 Bergenline Avenue in Union City, New Jersey

and was responsible for ten North Jersey municipalities. According to the February 2000 Tract

Action Plan, there were 75 tracts in the LCO, of which all were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB,

there were 116,897 housing units. The LCO was in an urban area, ethnically and linguistically

diverse and featured the largest concentration of Cuban-Americans outside of South Florida. The

office’s territory included the famous Meadowlands sports facility (Giants’ Stadium, Continental

Airlines Arena and Meadowlands Racetrack).

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$18.50 $30.50 $26.00 $22.75 $22.75 $14.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
168

HUDSON COUNTY NORTH

Local Census Office #2215

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The office was led by an LCOM who used his skills as a former military officer and engineer to run

a well-organized and disciplined operation. Population in the LCO area is urban and extremely

dense. Enumeration challenges included a large, undocumented immigrant population, at least 14

different languages spoken in the area, and overcrowded rental apartments. Gated communities

also posed a significant challenge, but support from the Mayor of Secaucus and the Hudson County

Surrogate Court were very helpful in this matter.

Observations

The LCO stayed in close contact with local politicians by sending weekly reports to the mayors of

the ten largest cities in its jurisdiction. The LCO tracked NRFU efforts by city, which encouraged

healthy competition among cities and mayors.

Due to a dramatically better than expected mail response rate and the large applicant pool, the LCO

finished NRFU on June 12. Recruiters did not have problems hiring bilingual enumerators to work

for the LCO, with the exceptions of finding speakers of Korean and Vietnamese.

Success at this office was tied to the LCO’s resourcefulness. For example, when the office met

delays in receiving Spanish-language materials, the LCOM arranged for an immediate shipment

from Albuquerque, New Mexico. When the postal service had problems delivering census forms in

one neighborhood, field workers passed out 4,000 Be Counted forms in the streets and left extras at

area shops. To help find undocumented immigrants, enumerators took down every ethnic business

address within the LCO’s jurisdiction and mailed a letter to the owners asking them to encourage

their employees and customers to cooperate with census personnel.
169

HUDSON COUNTY NORTH

Local Census Office #2215

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Hudson County North office appeared to address significant challenges and set an example of

inter-government cooperation and successful HTE planning.

Observations

The office enjoyed strong support from its county government and despite the substantial challenges of language and population diversity, exceeded its recruiting goals and NRFU. The Hudson

County North LCO also ranked first in terms of recruiting of the ten North Jersey offices supervised

by the New York City RCC. This LCO was the second North Jersey office to complete the NRFU

phase of Census 2000 operations and also ranked highly among all offices supervised by the New

York City RCC.

Two of the four districts enumerated by this office offered significant challenges. One area, in

Hoboken, reported refusals by residents of high-rent apartment buildings and gated communities.

To meet this challenge, the LCO undertook cooperative efforts with the Hudson County CCC and

local mayors, access was gained to the gated communities and census operations completed. A

large immigrant population was a challenge in another area, East Newark.

Unlike other LCOs that were visited by the Monitoring Board, the county reportedly gained access

to tract-by-tract NRFU progress reports by contacting Representative Robert Menendez (D-13) and

Regional Director Lester Farthing. Around May 1, the Census Bureau reportedly agreed to provide

tract-by-tract information to elected officials no later than the third week of May in order to assist in

NRFU.
170
171

BROOKLYN SOUTH

Local Census Office #2229

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 28, 2000

May 8, 2000

June 12, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

55%

NRFU Workload

79,464 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Brooklyn South LCO was located at 333 Avenue X, New York, New York (in the Gravesend

section of New York City near the Ocean Parkway exit of the Belt Parkway). According to the

February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 145 tracts, of which 141 (97.24 percent) were HTE.

According to the 1990 PDB, there were 159,654 housing units. The LCO is responsible for several

neighborhoods, including Brighton Beach and Coney Island. This area has been a major destination of Russian Jewish immigrants for many years; the LCO requires language expertise in Yiddish, Chinese, Spanish and French Creole.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$18.50 $30.50 $26.00 $22.75 $22.75 $14.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
172

BROOKLYN SOUTH

Local Census Office #2229

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Brooklyn South LCO manager, as well as the Regional Office’s Area Manager, benefited from

previous decennial census experience. The LCO stayed on track throughout our three visits. This

appeared helpful in counting the diverse community, which was 97 percent HTE.

Observations

Russian Jews make up a large portion of the area with a significant influx of Hispanics in the last

several years. Additionally, the area contains a diversity of population groups including West

Indians, African Americans, Chinese Americans, Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis and Italians.

Given the diversity of the community, the office’s greatest challenge was to gauge the appropriate

ethnicity of applicants. Application forms did not require such information. Overall however, the

office did not experience recruitment problems. Managers realized that they needed additional

Spanish-speaking, Arab and Italian enumerators and in May they trained 30 such enumerators. The

LCO jurisdiction contains very large apartment buildings but recruiters had no problems attracting

applicants from those buildings.

The initial mailback response rate was 55 percent, finishing almost nine percent ahead of expectations. As one of the 18 LCOs in the New York Region to complete its workload by June 8, enumerators finished NRFU in time for the first wave of the vacant and delete check operation.

The office worked well with the partnership specialist but the LCOM would have preferred to have

a partnership specialist assigned to the LCO on a permanent basis. As it was, the office held weekly

meetings and kept in frequent communication with the partnership specialist. The LCOM also felt

that it would be more useful for the Partnership Specialist to report to him directly, rather than the

RCC. Nevertheless, local partnership and outreach was good. The Hispanic community posed a

challenge because they are new to the area and had yet to develop strong organizations. In general,

the jurisdiction enjoyed strong support from storeowners, churches and community boards.
173

BROOKLYN SOUTH

Local Census Office #2229

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Brooklyn South LCO made an effort to meet the needs of its linguistically isolated communities. There were efforts in three major areas to assure language needs were met: “Be Counted!”

sites, enumeration and partnership. These efforts may have assisted in promoting a higher response

rate.

Observations

The LCO management staff worked in conjunction with 40 partners to open QACs/“Be Counted!”

sites on or about March 31. These were located primarily in libraries and staffed with a combination of paid staff and volunteers. Given the area’s varied language requirement, the LCO made

every attempt to staff these sites with the predominant language of the neighborhood. Almost

3,000 people were served at the LCO’s facilities.

The LCO was successful in hiring culturally sensitive enumerators to meet the needs of linguistically isolated residents. Although the office ranked 33 of 39 among New York City RCC’s LCOs,

the staff was innovative in identifying solutions. For instance, the LCO’s recruiters worked with

storeowners and churches to recruit Mexican enumerators.

While the LCO did not establish any formal relationship with a local CCC, the LCOM indicated

that the associated Partnership Specialist had formed good working relations with the area’s large

Russian Jewish population in this area.

The LCOM also described a significant safety problem during blitz enumeration of certain apartment buildings. Specifically, the red census identification vests worn by enumerators repeatedly

caused many residents to call the police. In New York City, the color red is the color of the infamous “Blood” gangs. Neighbors were concerned this gang was invading their neighborhood. Furthermore, the LCOM reported that the red vests did not reflect well at night. Since this could

endanger the well being of census workers, more attention must be paid to enumerators’ clothing

and identification in future censuses.
174
175

NEW YORK NORTH

Local Census Office #2234

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 20, 2000

May 1, 2000

June 12, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

61%

NRFU Workload

45,793 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The New York North LCO was located at 4290 Broadway, New York, New York (in Washington

Heights). According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 49 tracts, all HTE. According

to the 1990 PDB, there were 111,672 housing units. The LCO was responsible for four distinct neighborhoods, three in Manhattan (Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights and Inwood Heights) and one in

the Bronx (Marble Hill). This area has been the main destination of Dominican immigrants for 30 years

and has the largest concentration of Dominicans outside of the Dominican Republic. The LCO required

language expertise in Spanish, Russian, Yiddish and to a smaller degree, Korean and Italian.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$18.50 $30.50 $26.00 $22.75 $22.75 $14.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
176

NEW YORK NORTH

Local Census Office #2234

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The LCO received a higher than expected mail response rate of 62 percent. Along with this achievement and extremely effective recruiting, the office successfully conducted operations.

Observations

During our first visit to the office in March, the office led the New York region and ranked third

nationally in recruiting (highest number of recruits relative to each LCO’s recruiting goal). By

June, the LCO moved up to the number one spot in the nation in recruiting. To attract qualified

Spanish speaking applicants, the office tested recruits in Spanish. In addition, the LCO helped the

New York Northwest LCO find Hispanic enumerators for Spanish Harlem. In all, 15,000 people

were tested.

In one of the most diverse regions in the nation, the LCO faced urban challenges such as difficult to

enter apartment buildings, resistant building managers and unsafe neighborhoods. Furthermore,

LCO staff estimated recent immigrants from at least 30 different countries resided within the LCO’s

jurisdiction. Surprisingly, enumerators also had significant problems with upper and middle class

residents who complained that the census was too intrusive.

This office was directed by an extremely competent, experienced LCOM. His experience in three

decennials and sincere sense of civic duty contributed to the success of the office. The LCOM was

very complimentary of the way headquarters developed the plan for the Census.

Enumerators could benefit from photo-identification badges in this urban LCO. Badges used during this census identified enumerators by signature only. Residents might be more comfortable

with a picture of each enumerator on his or her badge. Managers in this, the Orleans Parish and San

Diego South LCOs mentioned this suggestion.

The LCO enjoyed tremendous support from the community. The office hosted a “Census Awareness Conference” in March, which was attended by leaders from the religious community, health

service providers, immigrant organizations, school board officials, community board members and

political leaders. Community volunteers helped make QACs operate successfully; nevertheless,

the LCOM suggested that QACs should have been open one more week.
177

NEW YORK NORTH

Local Census Office #2234

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

This New York North LCO epitomized the best practices of the Census Bureau’s HTE plans when

combined with the leadership and flexibility of a bright, energetic LCOM who reflected and understood the ethnic composition of the LCO’s region. The LCO had great outreach and recruiting

success, tempered by its own concerns remain regarding the effectiveness of the Targeted NonShelter phase, as well as the restrictive use of the local CCC.

Observations

The office was ranked third nationally in terms of recruiting and had the highest mail response rate

(65 percent) in New York City, demonstrating the importance of effective outreach efforts in ensuring a successful census. The LCO staff attributed these successes to advertising in different languages, aggressive community outreach and hiring managers from the community. Recruiting

efforts by the New York North office were commendable. The office had almost three times the

amount of qualified employees as originally projected. The office led the way among LCOs in

removing barriers to hiring. It assisted other local offices with administering English Proficiency

Tests and provided other translated material. This indicated that the other offices were not as prepared to administer the tests and distribute Spanish-language material mainly because of delays in

receipt from headquarters.

During our April 5 visit, the LCOM was unable to discuss the office’s HTE Action Plan, as it was

still in draft. This document was normally drafted to assist employees in deploying strategies from

the Bureau’s “Toolkit” (for example, blitz enumeration in large housing projects, team enumeration

in doorman-type buildings, and QACs in subway stations). Since the document was not provided

to us, it could not be evaluated.

One area, however, suggests an opportunity for improvement and policy clarification. The LCO

did not use its CCC, chaired by a member of Alianza Dominicana, a well known Dominican advocacy organization, to the fullest extent, because the LCOM had been instructed that it was the

Partnership Specialist’s responsibility to initiate the creation of the CCC and to support its activities. For example, the CCC was not consulted on identifying locating, and staffing QACs/“Be

Counted!” sites (though the office’s 40 QACs helped 6,000 people to fill out their forms). However, because the LCOM lived in and knew the neighborhood, he identified locations with heavy

traffic for the QACs/”Be Counted!” sites, including the offices of the Alianza Dominicana.

The relationship between the LCO and the community was strained at times. The CCC held a press

conference in mid-March to denounce the LCO for lack of follow-up with job applicants. They

tried to express the confusion and frustration among the community regarding the timetable for

testing and hiring enumerators and the perceived lack of cultural-sensitivity to the Latino community. Other sectors of the community directed criticism at the LCO for not having Spanish-lan-
178

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

guage census forms readily available at the QACs/“Be Counted!” sites until the final week of March

and for not having enough Spanish-language resources available. The LCOM quickly resolved

these issues, and the CCC was pleased that the LCOM listened and was responsive to their concerns.

Another area in need of improvement would be the Census Bureau’s policy that prohibited enumerators from going underneath subway stations, up to rooftops or into vacant buildings, places the

homeless often use. This policy could have adversely affected the overall success of the Targeted

Non-Shelter phase of Census 2000 operations. Despite visiting twelve locations in one day, only

123 people were enumerated during the five-hour period (7:00 p.m. to midnight) allotted for this

task. Compounding this was the frustration of the LCO staff with training for this phase, which was

held the day of the enumeration.
179

NEW YORK NORTHWEST

Local Census Office #2236

Overview

Dates of Visits:

February 23, 2000

April 6, 2000

May 22, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

49%

NRFU Workload

62,925 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The New York Northwest LCO was located at 101-115 West 116th Street, New York, New York

(in Harlem). The February 2000 Tract Action Plan identified all 60 tracts as HTE. According to the

1990 PDB, there were 154,588 housing units. The LCO is responsible for two distinct neighborhoods, East Harlem (Spanish Harlem) and West Harlem (Black Harlem). While East Harlem used

to be almost entirely Puerto Rican, there is a rapidly growing Mexican community and a significant, longstanding Dominican community. West Harlem’s population included African American,

African and Caribbean households, and a small but growing French African population.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$18.50 $30.50 $26.00 $22.75 $22.75 $14.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
180

NEW YORK NORTHWEST

Local Census Office #2236

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Overcoming early facility problems, this LCO was able to successfully recruit a large number of

qualified applicants, achieve a higher than expected mail response rate, and finish NRFU operations ahead of the June 28th national completion date.

Observations

In its April 1, 2000 Report to Congress, the Board reported that this LCO had numerous facility

problems. These problems were largely solved by the time Board staff re-visited on April 6. Most

deficiencies were promptly addressed after GSA withheld the rent from the owner of the LCO’s

building. However, the elevator was still not in operation. An agreement with the next door neighbor, Harlem Hospital, provided the necessary access.

All 60 of the LCO’s census tracts were HTE. With a higher than anticipated mail response rate of

48 percent, the expected workload was reduced to just over 62,000 households. This initial success

allowed the LCO to concentrate its efforts on getting the most accurate count within a tight timeframe.

Given the high unemployment rate in the area, recruitment was fairly successful. The LCO did

experience some recruiting difficulty in the Mexican community. In an attempt to recruit more

Mexicans, the Asociacion de Tepeyac de Nuevo York set up a special testing site that proved helpful.

There were some tensions between the community leadership of East and West Harlem. East

Harlem, populated primarily by Latinos, wanted the local census office located in its neighborhood,

and run by a Latino. The LCO manager recognized this frustration and felt that she worked hard to

compensate. Additionally, some East Harlem community leaders said that the Latinos were getting

the lowest paid jobs.

The New York North local census office assisted the New York Northwest office when it experienced problems recruiting Mexican enumerators. Some community leaders of East Harlem felt not

enough efforts had been made to recruit employees or to encourage census participation. This lead

to some tension between the African-American and Hispanic communities.

The LCO reported very good support from the City Council. Specifically, two members of the

council encouraged census participation with bullhorns on the streets of Harlem. Additionally, the

LCO sponsored two “Census Awareness Days” to publicly promote census participation.
181

NEW YORK NORTHWEST

Local Census Office #2236

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

It is clear that this LCO faced many challenges in the very difficult and important task of counting

this historic neighborhood. A more proactive and affirmative relationship between the LCOM and

the Partnership Specialist could have alleviated the growing tensions between the community leaders in East Harlem and the LCO. The members of the East Harlem CCC do not believe an accurate

count of their community was made by Census 2000.

Observations

The New York Northwest office was highlighted in our April 1 report to Congress. In that report,

we noted the office’s operational challenges — apparently poor coordination with partnership staff,

slow delivery of supplies and inadequate physical facilities.

There were some improvements in the physical conditions of this LCO during our three visits,

thanks to the efforts of GSA, including picking up trash, eliminating rodents and providing running

water. However, a number of other basic infrastructure problems made Census employees’ jobs

difficult. For instance, though the office was located on the second floor, the lack of an elevator

made the LCO inaccessible to the handicapped and the handling of deliveries a major problem.

Though we are confident LCO management staff wrote an HTE plan to address its difficult census

tracts, the plan was not provided by the New York City RCC or the Bureau’s Field Division, despite repeated requests. Management staff reported it intended to employ the blitz and team enumeration strategies from the Bureau’s “Toolkit.”

The East Harlem CCC initially attempted to work with the RCC to relocate the LCO from 116th

Street to a more centrally located El Barrio site as well as with the LCOM in order to recruit and hire

staff that reflected the ethnic composition of that neighborhood. Frustrated by what they perceived

to be slights and lack of action on both the part of the RCC and the LCOM, their efforts escalated.

The LCO was criticized in Spanish-language newspapers and was challenged by influential members of the community, especially by the East Harlem CCC, for its insufficient recruiting efforts

and a lack of sensitivity in recruitment. A key concern of the community was the LCO’s ability to

hire enough Latinos, specifically Mexicans (the largest Latino group in East Harlem). They expressed concern with Spanish-language testing arrangements, a prerequisite for hiring some enumerators. Though the LCO’s AM had an arrangement with Asociacion Tepeyac, a well known

Mexican advocacy organization, to administer the tests, the facilities were not conveniently located. Specifically, the New York Northwest LCO was located on West 116th Street, but Asociacion

Tepeyac was at East 14th Street. After encountering difficulty administering the tests, the LCO

management staff eventually located a test center in the New York North LCO (i.e., Washington
182

Heights, 2234), even further away from the applicants’ neighborhood. Towards the end of the recruitment process, the LCO finally located a Spanish-language test site in El Barrio.

In an attempt to respond to the requests made by the CCC, a Partnership Specialist was hired whose

ethnicity was Mexican. During several conversations with members of the CCC, they emphasized

that the Partnership Specialist had never contacted them although one member is the head of the

largest Mexican advocacy organization in El Barrio and another is the District Leader of that neighborhood. They were not aware of any specific outreach efforts or events conducted by the Partnership Specialist and believed that their community had basically been ignored.

Interpreting a lack of sensitivity on the part of the LCO, the East Harlem CCC enlisted the assistance of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) to intercede on their behalf with the Regional Director of the RCC and the LCOM.

Furthermore, the city government, led by Mayor Rudy Guiliani, made dedicated efforts in community outreach by publicizing the need to participate in the census count and trying to assure the

city’s residents that it was safe to open the door to enumerators.

The LCO staff described their frustration about certain on-air personalities on WQHT, a popular

New York City radio station (97.1 FM). The efforts of Bureau employees have been hampered by

persistent requests by the hosts of the radio station to not fill out the census forms. Apparently,

many residents told enumerators they would not fill out their questionnaires because these DJs

stressed they didn’t have to fill the forms out.

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]
183

Report to Congress Philadelphia Region October 1, 2000

Fernando E. Armstrong serves as Director of the Philadelphia Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Philadelphia Region and the Local Census Offices in those

states reviewed by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Delaware

 District of Columbia: Washington, DC LCO

 Maryland: Baltimore East LCO

 Pennsylvania: Philadelphia North LCO; Philadelphia South LCO; Altoona LCO

 New Jersey (Central and Southern)

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 9,883,318 Housing Units

• 61,370 Square Miles

• 4 States, 106 Counties and the District of Columbia

• 3,171 Governmental Units

• 37 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 8 U.S. Senators

• 42 Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• Contains three challenging urban centers (Philadelphia, Baltimore and the District of Columbia)

• Pennsylvania has the second-highest number of elderly after Florida

• New Jersey ranked fourth in number of immigrants admitted to a state (1996)

• Delaware ranked 49th in the amount of federal aid to state and local governments (1997)

• Maryland was ninth in the nation among the percentage of its population employed (1996)
184
185

WASHINGTON, DC EAST

Local Census Office #2311

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 11, 2000

May 26, 2000

June 21, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

52%

NRFU Workload

57,434 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Washington, D.C., East LCO was located at 800 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 92 tracts, of

which 55 (59.78 percent) were HTE. Many of these tracts contain multi-unit and multi-family

housing. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 118,765 housing units. The LCO is responsible

for the entire District east of the Anacostia River.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$15.75 $27.75 $23.25 $20.00 $20.00 $12.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
186

WASHINGTON, DC EAST

Local Census Office #2311

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Washington, D.C. successfully raised the mail response rate from 56 percent in 1990 to 58 percent

in 2000. The commitment to community outreach and implementation of a comprehensive NRFU

program enabled the LCO to achieve a relatively high overall response.

Observations

The LCOM pointed enthusiastically to the positive effects of the Bureau’s Partnership program,

which emphasized “coalition building” through the development of a strong Complete Count Committee and shared responsibility with local agencies. The Department of Motor Vehicles and the

Department of Employment Services, for example, supported the LCO’s agenda by facilitating

mass recruiting sessions targeting the District’s residents.

With the support of the Bureau, community leaders and elected officials, the LCO dedicated much

of its resources to ensuring an accurate count during NRFU. Blitz and paired enumeration strategies

were implemented in high crime areas and in neighborhoods that have been overtaken by drug

dealers. Detailed maps highlighting Hard-to-Enumerate tracts were on display at the office. Personal visits and repeated telephone calls were made to produce the highest possible response rate in

the HTEs and throughout the LCO’s jurisdiction.

The LCO observed round-the-clock work hours throughout NRFU. Efforts to assign bilingual staff

in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods helped to produce a high number of successful interviews.

The Area Manager covering the DC area reported the 2000 Census was “more organized, more laid

out, and procedures better written” than in the 1990 Census. According to LCO staff, however, illtimed remarks from national political figures indicating that people need not complete all of the

census questions may have negatively impacted the initial response rate among the District’s residents.

The Board held numerous meetings with local leaders of the District, and hosted a public event on

July 8 to discuss the impact of census numbers in Ward 8, a historically undercounted and therefore

under-served area.
187

WASHINGTON, DC EAST

Local Census Office #2311

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Washington, D.C. East LCO attributed much of its recruiting success to the government assistance waivers. The LCO was also strongly supported by its local CCC that united 250 local churches,

community groups and organizations.

Observations

Recruiting efforts by the Washington, D.C. East office were commendable. The LCOM was particularly sensitive to the need to assemble a diverse workforce and targeted the LCO’s recruiting

and promotional efforts to specific neighborhoods and census tracts. During the April 11 visit, the

LCOM reported, after initially bringing the issue to the attention of CMBC, that the government

assistance waivers had made a “considerable difference” in the office’s ability to encourage residents of the HTE neighborhoods to become enumerators. In fact, the office administered its job

applicant test to almost 13,000 people and had more than twice the originally projected amount of

qualified employees.

Elected officials and the District’s Census 2000 “Power in Numbers” CCC were helpful in overall

recruiting. Reportedly 95 percent of enumerators were placed in their own neighborhoods. Additionally, the CCC, comprised of 250 neighborhood, church, community, civic and business organizations, was reported to be essential in the development and implementation of the HTE Action

Plan. The most effective strategy employed was blitz enumeration, especially near the Memorial

Day weekend.

Within a few percentage points, the Census 2000 mailback response rate tracked the 1990 results,

suggesting overall promotional efforts made little difference, as the LCOM asserted there had been

no major demographic changes in the last ten years. Unlike many other LCOs, management reported enumerators submitted no falsified forms.

This office received a high level of oversight throughout all phases of Census 2000 operations.

Congressional Board Member A. Mark Neuman participated during the April 11 Monitoring Board

visit and Census Bureau Associate Director for Field Operations Marvin Raines participated in the

June 21 visit. Chairman Dan Miller and ranking member Carolyn Maloney of the House Subcommittee on the Census observed homeless enumeration on March 29.
188
189

BALTIMORE EAST

Local Census Office #2315

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 7, 2000

May 25, 2000

June 26, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

51%

NRFU Workload

65,090 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Baltimore East LCO was located on the first floor at 2525 Kirk Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland.

According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 88 tracts in the LCO, of which 81

(92.04 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 126,855 housing units. The

LCO was in the heart of urban Baltimore and was comprised primarily of African-American and

Hispanic residents.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$13.25 $25.25 $20.75 $17.50 $17.50 $10.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
190

BALTIMORE EAST

Local Census Office #2315

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Through strong organization, good management at the regional and local level and ongoing outreach efforts, the LCO was able to effectively complete NRFU ahead of schedule, finishing on June

23. These efforts were especially significant in light of the City of Baltimore’s lower than expected

response rate of 50 percent and a shortage of qualified workers.

Observations

The LCO’s success can be explained, in large part, by the work and dedication of a strong LCOM,

who was responsible for overseeing close to 800 people in the field and about 150 in-office personnel. An educator by training, the LCOM appeared driven by the civic aspect of the census and

concern for the local community. The LCOM demonstrated a firm and disciplined working style,

and conveyed unswerving commitment to Census Bureau procedures.

Census in the Schools was effective. The LCOM further noted that the program should become a

permanent feature of the Baltimore City’s school curriculum.

The LCO overcame a low mail back rate by keeping to a NRFU Action Plan that concentrated on

Hard-to-Enumerate areas. Blitz and paired enumeration strategies were used in areas where security was a concern. Successful recruitment efforts in Latino neighborhoods led to the sufficient hire

of bilingual enumerators who, in turn, generated a high rate of successful interviews within the

Latino community.

Particularly impressive was the work of one enumerator whom Board staff observed. The enumerator attributed a high number of completed interviews to her persistence and Spanish fluency, as well

as the three-day training program. During an observation of NRFU operations in the Highland town

area of Baltimore, Board staff was particularly impressed with the efficiency and dedication of the

enumerator.

While the LCO was blessed with talented and hard-working staff, the office initially had some

problems with several employees who were thought to be falsifying census information or who

simply weren’t meeting basic work standards. In one week, during the early stages of NRFU, 127

workers were taken off the payroll for reasons relating to falsification or non-performance. The

work carried out by these employees was redistributed in timely fashion. Welfare to Work employees were said to be among the hardest working and most diligent in the field. Furthermore, senior

citizens received much praise from the LCOM for making a positive contribution to both the LCO’s

administrative and field operations departments.

[Continued on page 192]
191

BALTIMORE EAST

Local Census Office #2315

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

Several factors observed in the Baltimore East LCO have caused concern for us, including rapid

progress at the end that was out of line with previous performance output and staffing levels.

Observations

During the May 25 Monitoring Board visit, the LCOM described an ambitious, though artificially

imposed, deadline of June 23 for the completion of NRFU.

We are concerned with the speedy progress during Final Closeout (the NRFU progress from 95 to

100 percent) and staffing at many levels. Final Closeout took only four days, far less than the move

from 90 to 95 percent, which was estimated at 7 – 10 days. This disparity could have potential

quality control implications. The office faced 60 percent attrition among its enumerators, and

following one memorable meeting, 127 employees in one district were purged. During the April 7

Monitoring Board visit, the office’s recruiting progress had reached 54 percent, but according to

internal Census Bureau recruiting progress reports, the LCOs should have reached 90 percent of

their Qualified Recruiting Goal by April 1.

As a result of a managerial change in another LCO, Baltimore East’s LCOM served concurrently as

the Manager of the Baltimore West office from the end of May. In other words, there was only one

manager for the two LCOs serving the largest city in Maryland, a city that had an undercount of at

least 23,000 during the 1990 Census.

Despite repeated requests for their HTE Action Plan, the Bureau refused to provide it to CMBC;

thus it could not be fully evaluated.
192

Support from local elected officials and the Census Bureau’s Regional Office played a large role in

the overall success of the LCO. The LCOM specifically mentioned efforts by Maryland’s Secretary of State and the Mayor of Baltimore in raising census awareness and making the LCO’s job

more manageable. The Board heard first-hand about census efforts in Baltimore during a regional

summit it co-hosted with the Cities of Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Prince George’s County in

February 2000.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
193

ALTOONA

Local Census Office #2328

Overview

Dates of Visits:

May 31, 2000

June 22, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

68%

NRFU Workload

73,154 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Altoona LCO was located on the first floor of the Keystone Financial Building, at 1311 12th

Street, Altoona, Pennsylvania. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 121

tracts in the LCO, of which eight were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 209,024

housing units. The LCO encompassed nine counties in the heart of rural Pennsylvania and was

linguistically homogenous. This LCO was also responsible for the enumeration of the Amish and

Mennonite communities in Franklin County.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census Office 

Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$9.25 $21.25 $16.75 $13.50 $13.50 $7.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
194

ALTOONA

Local Census Office #2328

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The initial response rate was higher than expected thus reducing the NRFU workload. This success

allowed NRFU operations to be completed by June 10, ahead of the national deadline.

Observations

By February 2000, the office reached its recruiting goal, primarily due to the high unemployment in

the area (reportedly 12-14 percent).

Eight of the 121 census tracts in the Altoona LCO jurisdiction were considered HTE. These tracts

were primarily farmlands and presented a challenge because of the great distances between households. Furthermore, the process of map spotting assumes numbers and street names which are not

always clearly marked on rural roads.

Another challenge to enumeration in this area was the large Amish community. A tight-knit community with limited contact with the U.S. government, most households received their census questionnaires via update/leave. Indigenous hiring proved pivotal in overcoming these rural and cultural

challenges.

While recruiting and staffing never posed a problem in this area of relatively high unemployment,

the office covered an agricultural area and contended with employees returning to farm work during

the spring season. In anticipation of this, the recruiting staff targeted certain areas to remain fully

staffed during NRFU. The targeting paid off as the office remained one of the top performers during

NRFU, completing operations ahead of the national deadline. Moreover, a number of employees

were dispatched to staff other LCOs.

The staff in this office was well organized and detail-oriented. Several employees worked on the

1990 census and thus had a good working knowledge of the census. It was suggested that for the

next census, when employees are reassigned to neighboring LCO jurisdictions, their pay be adjusted commensurate with that particular locality.
195

ALTOONA

Local Census Office #2328

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

A number of issues bring attention to the Altoona LCO. The Census Bureau’s P.O. Box nondelivery policy left many residents never receiving a census questionnaire. By the time NRFU

began, field enumeration was in a weak position because of poor advanced planning. It was difficult for many local governments to take full advantage of LUCA, since most have part time employees.

Observations

The Census Bureau classified 85 percent of Franklin County as a MO/MB area. However, 90

percent of the county is lacking city style addresses, because most of it is farmland. Residents

receive their mail through the use of a Post Office Box. As a result of the Bureau’s policy of not

delivering census forms to P.O. Boxes, many residents never received a questionnaire.

To complicate the matter, many residents are members of the Amish and Mennonite communities.

The timeline for NRFU corresponds with the spring farming season for these groups. As a result,

enumerators had difficulty getting access to a significant part of the population. The LCO management knew of the difficulties in Franklin County, and similar neighboring counties, for over a year

before the census began, but there appeared to be little preparation to address these problems.

The LCO was challenged since many of the houses lacked addresses. One possible solution was to

match the Bureau’s address with the E-911 style address of the municipality. According to the

LCOM, matching the Bureau’s address to the E-911 style address became increasingly more complicated.

The quality of LUCA in these rural communities is also suspicious, because individuals who work

on a voluntary basis within these local governments could not reasonably update the maps within

the 30-day deadline imposed by the Census Bureau.

Lastly, the AMFO spent an inordinate amount of time trying to meet with FOSs and CLs. Because

of the geography, he regularly drove 1,000 miles a week. Due to admonitions from the Philadelphia RCC to keep costs low, he minimized his travel. As a result supervision was reduced, which he

commented compromised quality control.
196
197

PHILADELPHIA NORTH

Local Census Office #2352

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 22, 2000

May 12, 2000

June 8, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

44%

NRFU Workload

82,483 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Philadelphia North LCO was located on the first floor of the Traylor Building at 2701 North

Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there

were 78 tracts in the LCO, of which 76 (97.44 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB,

there were 145,364 housing units. The LCO was in the heart of urban Philadelphia and was comprised primarily of African-American, Asian Americans and Hispanic residents.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$12.75 $24.75 $20.25 $17.00 $17.00 $9.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
198

PHILADELPHIA NORTH

Local Census Office #2352

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Philadelphia North jurisdiction registered a relatively low mail response rate (43 percent).

Nevertheless, the LCO met the subsequent challenge of conducting a field enumeration in a diverse

urban area that includes Hispanics, African Americans, Koreans, Cambodians, Vietnamese and

Arabs. Support from the Regional Office and the involvement of local CCCs comprised of elected

officials and community leaders were vital to the LCO’s census effort.

Observations

The LCO developed an aggressive recruiting strategy that paid special attention to recruitment in

minority-based neighborhoods. The LCO’s recruiting campaign met its goal of attracting a number

of minority applicants. Early deficiencies in Korean American staff were resolved promptly with

the hire of an effective Korean American recruiter. Bilingual enumerators and facilitators proved to

be very helpful at ensuring the success of the NRFU operation.

The LCOM noted with pride that this census was the best publicized census in history and that the

heightened public awareness added to the success of NRFU operations. LCOMs with previous

decennial experience in San Francisco, Portland, and San Antonio, also noted the positive effect of

the national advertising campaign.

The Bureau’s partnership program was successful in Philadelphia. Two Partnership specialists operated out of the Philadelphia North LCO, one whom was African American and the other Hispanic. While the specialists were reportedly effective in fulfilling their mission, the Area Manager

noted that coordination and communication between the specialists and the LCOM would have

been more productive had the specialists been assigned to the LCO earlier in the process. The Area

Manager noted that CPUMS served as a useful resource in listing prominent community partners

who actively promoted the census.

The LCOM gave the Bureau’s Census in the Schools program high marks for enhancing census

outreach efforts. Additionally, the local CCCs operating in the jurisdiction were instrumental in

promoting census participation. In order to compensate for the low mail response, the CCCs disseminated census information to housing units throughout the LCO jurisdiction and at public centers such as supermarkets. The CCCs and their members also promoted the census at the wellattended Latin and Cambodian festivals.

The LCO functioned extremely well on a day-to-day basis due to strong leadership that emphasized

ongoing communication between field and other LCO staff. As in other offices visited by the

Board including Hialeah and Baltimore, concerns by some employees about the crime-ridden loca-

[Continued on page 200]
199

PHILADELPHIA NORTH

Local Census Office #2352

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Philadelphia North office was continually challenged in trying to conduct a census in an inner

city. Key concerns include the high number of UAAs, as well as the termination of the AM and

later the LCOM.

Observations

During the May 12 Monitoring Board visit, the LCOM reported that over 1,000 potential employees could not pass the background check. In addition, the office was functioning with less than 90

percent of its projected enumerators and over 20 percent of identified applicants failed to show up

for enumerator training.

During the June 8 Monitoring Board visit, the LCOM reported 81 percent of the NRFU cases had

been closed and 15,072 remained. This was behind the Philadelphia RCC’s June 2 goal of 100

percent.

The high number of UAAs raised concerns as to the validity of Census 2000 data in this office’s

territory. The original mailout universe was approximately 140,000 and over 20,000 forms, many

from ZIP code 19132, were returned to the LCO as UAA. These forms were accidentally sent out

because of an oversight during the LUCA operation. These “households” should have been deleted

from the MAF because they didn’t exist anymore or had been confirmed as vacant.

There was no interface with the city’s CCC and few working relationships with other state and city

elected officials. In addition, this office suffered significant managerial turmoil. On or about May

9, the original AM was fired and on or about June 19, the original LCOM was also fired.
200

tion of the office were addressed by the hiring of an armed guard.

Several locally elected officials provided the LCO with invaluable support at every phase of its

operation. Some officials offered office space for the establishment of QACs. These QACs were

often located in areas of the city known for heavy foot traffic.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
201

PHILADELPHIA SOUTH

Local Census Office #2338

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 11, 2000

May 24, 2000

June 20, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

51%

NRFU Workload

76,445 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The Philadelphia South LCO was located on the second floor of the Public Ledger Building at 150

South Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the February 2000 Tract

Action Plan, there were 80 tracts in the LCO, of which 46 (57.5 percent) were HTE. According to

the 1990 PDB, there were 154,995 housing units. The LCO was located exclusively in urban

Philadelphia and was comprised primarily of Italian-American, African-American and Asian American residents as well as a significant number of college-age students that attended the University of

Pennsylvania, Drexel University and other institutions.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$14.25 $26.25 $21.75 $18.50 $18.50 $10.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
202

PHILADELPHIA SOUTH

Local Census Office #2338

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The Bureau remedied early management problems by replacing the LCOM in May, just after NRFU

started. As a result, NRFU had a slow start but was able to accelerate as field staff became more

confident in management and in their own assignments.

Observations

Over half of the office’s 80 census tracts were considered HTE, according to the 1990 Planning

Database. The City’s CCC helped the Bureau work with public housing residents and minority

neighborhoods to achieve success in these areas. Surprisingly, the HTE neighborhoods proved

easier to enumerate than the upper-income high-rise apartment buildings in Center City. After the

initial mail response rates for the city were totaled, the areas with higher NRFU—and lower mail

response—workloads were in wealthier neighborhoods. Again with the City’s CCC assistance, the

Bureau was able to contact the managers of the dozen buildings that initially refused access to

enumerators. Eventually, eight of the buildings fully cooperated with the census while two only

gave population counts, one allowed enumerators to set up a table outside the building, and one

would not cooperate at all.

Local media reported that some Center City high rise apartment dwellers refused to cooperate with

enumerators of color and instead requested that the Bureau send only white enumerators. In order

to achieve the best count and maintain confidentiality of the residents, the Bureau accommodated

the request. This obstacle was only one of the many the Bureau faced in completing the count in

Philadelphia.

Cities around the country encountered challenges gaining access to gated communities and secure

apartment buildings. LCOs in Hialeah, Chicago, New Orleans, and Portland reported this as an

unexpected challenge to enumeration.

Chinatown was another neighborhood that proved difficult for the LCO to count. Often residents

were not home or feared cooperation with a government official. The LCO eased some fears by

enumerating the neighborhood using large teams of Asian American enumerators. This method

proved successful to completing the enumeration.

The office successfully recruited over 8,000 applicants and hired over 1,000 people to complete

enumeration. The LCOM contended that by reducing lag-time between training and field assignment, enumerators were most likely to be available for work. The Manager also reported that front

load hiring (i.e., hiring more than were necessary to complete the enumeration) was an essential

practice. The City of Philadelphia was commended for the number of welfare-to-work recipients

[Continued on page 204]
203

PHILADELPHIA SOUTH

Local Census Office #2338

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Philadelphia South LCO was challenged by difficulties in recruiting, a high number of UAAs,

ineffective use of its local CCC and the termination of the AM and later the LCOM.

Observations

During the April 11 visit, we noted the office was far behind its qualified applicant goal. By April

1, the LCO should have had 90 percent of its qualified applicant goal in its files. This office had also

seen significant managerial turmoil – on or about May 9, both the original AM and the original

LCOM were fired. During the May 24 Monitoring Board visit, the office was functioning with less

than 95 percent of its projected enumerators and over 50 percent of identified applicants failed to

show up for enumerator training. Additionally, the most recent Recruiting Status Report showed

this office had reached only 76 percent and 100 percent was expected by April 18.

Over 21,000 forms were returned to the LCO as UAA. Of those, 8,000 were re-delivered by enumerators. The others could not be delivered because either they didn’t exist anymore or had been

confirmed as vacant.

A new manager completed the final 35 percent of its assigned NRFU workload between May 25

and June 13 and gained access to many high-rent apartment buildings where access had been difficult. These tasks were completed in about three weeks in a very challenging part of a major city.

Concerns and questions were raised, by both the media and elected officials, as to the validity of

Census 2000 data in this office’s territory. For instance, on July 24, the Philadelphia Daily News

ran an article entitled, “City Census Botched: Recount Ordered After We Find 18,000 Homes

Missed.” In this article, U.S. Representative Bob Brady (D-1st) was quoted as saying the situation

was “disgraceful.”

There was little interface with the city’s CCC and few working relationships with other state and

city elected officials.
204

the LCOs were able to hire.

As mentioned, NRFU started slower in Philadelphia South than it did in some other offices we

visited. Still, the office finished about 20 percent of its workload per week, as directed by Bureau

headquarters. The LCO finished enumerating the 80,000+ housing unit NRFU workload by our

second visit on June 20.

The City’s CCC supported a phone bank, housed by the United Way, in late June to ensure Philadelphians were counted.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
205

Report to Congress Seattle Region October 1, 2000

Moises M. Carrasco serves as Director of the Seattle Regional Census Center.

Following are the states located in the Seattle Region and the Local Census Offices in those states

visited by the Census Monitoring Board:

 Alaska

 California (Northern and Central): Modesto LCO; Sacramento North LCO; San Francisco

 Northeast LCO; San Francisco West LCO (CMBP only)

 Idaho

 Oregon: Portland LCO

 Washington: Tacoma LCO

Highlights of the Region include:

• Approximately 9,372,848 Housing Units

• 936,314 Square Miles

• 5 States, 185 Counties

• 1,530 Governmental Units

• 94 American Indian Reservations

• 217 Alaska Native Villages

• 34 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives

• 10 U.S. Senators

• 38 Local Census Offices

Additional items of interest include:

• Largest region in total square miles

• Ranks first among regions in number of American Indian reservations

• Special needs for the enumeration of remote Alaska

• Special needs for the enumeration of San Francisco
206
207

MODESTO

Local Census Office #2717

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 13, 2000

May 24, 2000

June 27, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

68%

NRFU Workload

110,546 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave areas)

Geographic Description

The Modesto LCO was located at 1012 11th Street in Modesto, California. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 191 tracts in the LCO, of which 58 (30.37 percent) were

HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 298,301 housing units. The LCO included two

counties — San Joaquin and Stanislaus.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$10.25 $22.25 $17.75 $14.50 $14.50 $7.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
208

MODESTO

Local Census Office #2717

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

High mail response, exceptional partnership and recruiting efforts, and diligent managers who followed regional and national guidelines, combined to make the census a great success in Modesto.

Observations

Mail response actually increased 5 percent from the 1990 census to 70 percent, an outstanding

accomplishment. Further contributing to the success of the Modesto LCO was the exceptional work

of the Assistant Manager for Recruiting and the Partnership Specialist. Both were formally recognized by Census Bureau headquarters for their exemplary work.

Fifty-eight of the Modesto LCO’s 191 census tracts were HTE. The LCOM claimed that the Modesto

LCO area represented about 700,000 people in 1990 but that same area grew to near 1 million by

2000. HTE tracts in the Modesto area were concentrated in linguistically isolated communities,

waterways and deltas, industrial areas, resorts, areas with poor roads, and areas with high crime and

gangs. The agricultural and food processing industries are the major contributors to the local

economy.

NRFU operations were completed ahead of the national deadline on June 13. This early success

enabled the Modesto LCO to send enumerators to the Sunnyvale LCO to assist in its operations.

Management reported that California Rural Legal Assistance was instrumental in helping field

operations where migrant farm workers reside.

Management of this office heeded a suggestion from former Regional Office Director Bill Hill,

who created a training video directing local census office staff to use automobiles to survey their

LCO’s enumeration area. (Hill testified at a March 1999 Board hearing held in Suitland, MD.) The

LCO manager said these “windshield surveys” were helpful for Modesto’s employees to get a

better idea of the enumeration area before NRFU began.

Partnership and CCC involvement was exemplary. The two counties (San Joaquin and Stanislaus)

and both major cities in the Modesto LCO area (also includes the City of Stockton) established

CCCs. Each CCC had some local funding, and San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties received

$88,000 and $66,000 respectively from the California State CCC. LCO Management reported that

this money was spent wisely. For example, some of the San Joaquin County CCC’s money went to

a Stockton artist who wrote a census rap song called, “Count Me In.”
209

MODESTO

Local Census Office #2717

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Modesto office received positive publicity for its efforts in encouraging cooperation with the

census. The mail response rates for Modesto and four other towns were above 70 percent, exceeding the national average and their “90 plus five” goals.

Observations

The Modesto LCO faced difficulty in enumerating due to language barriers, unsafe areas at night,

poor roads, resort areas, gang activity, waterways, industrial areas and migrant workers. The LCO

staff wrote an HTE Action Plan to address the difficult tracts, however it was not provided by the

Seattle RCC, thus it could not be effectively evaluated. During the May 16 Monitoring Board visit,

the LCO staff reported their Plan was in its second iteration because some areas were more difficult

than originally anticipated.

The local CCC established an excellent working relationship with the Bureau. Organizations like

California Rural Legal Assistance, the NAACP and MALDEF were instrumental in establishing

about 100 QACs that served almost 2,400 people and about 100 “Be Counted!” sites that dealt with

almost 1,800 households. The California CCC provided funding to Stanislaus and San Joaquin

Counties for partnership efforts that led to higher-than-expected return rates of census forms by

mail and helped break down barriers that could have hindered the NRFU process. Results from the

Modesto office demonstrated how valuable a local CCC is in ensuring a successful census.

We were concerned with the high number of UAAs reported during the May 16 visit. Almost

40,000 UAAs were returned to the LCO, due primarily to non-delivery of census questionnaires to

Post Office Boxes (reportedly 90 percent of this total).

During the June 20 Monitoring Board visit, the LCOM described the competitive nature of NRFU

completion. LCOs were pressured by the Seattle RCC to finish their workload earlier than others,

as the RCCs competed to finish first nationally. The Modesto office completed NRFU on June 12,

then sent 104 enumerators to work in Sunnyvale (LCO 2729) and 55 others in Concord (LCO

2713).

At an awards ceremony held in Washington in early May, the Bureau Director, Dr. Kenneth Prewitt,

recognized two staff members of the office for outstanding achievement. The office’s Assistant

Manager for Recruiting received the Equal Opportunity Award and the Partnership Specialist received the Director’s Award for Innovation.
210
211

SACRAMENTO NORTH

Local Census Office #2721

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 11, 2000

May 16, 2000

June 20, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

65%

NRFU Workload

86,148 housing units

LCO Type

Type B Office (entirely mailout/ mailback)

Geographic Description

The Sacramento North LCO was located in the Moss Federal Building at 650 Capital Mall, Sacramento, California. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 95 tracts in the

LCO, of which 18 (18.95 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 210,143

housing units. The office was located outside the LCO’s boundaries, but near one of its borders.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$13.00 $25.00 $20.50 $17.25 $17.25 $9.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
212

SACRAMENTO NORTH

Local Census Office #2721

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Enumeration efforts proved successful at this LCO. The 1998 census dress rehearsal in Sacramento

helped the decennial effort by drawing on previous workers’ experience and local awareness.

Observations

Mail response was excellent, totaling nearly 70 percent. It left a smaller than expected NRFU workload

of over 86,000 housing units. With roughly 25 percent of all the tracts determined as HTE and

housing units being primarily suburban, the LCO was well prepared to fulfill its mission.

Recruiting in Sacramento North’s jurisdiction proceeded smoothly. The LCO reached 120 percent

of its recruiting goal for NRFU by April 11. Recruiters benefited from the Census 2000 dress

rehearsal in Sacramento by rehiring enumerators from the 1998 operation. Local retirees, McClellan

Air Force Base residents, and college students ranked among the most popular recruits. While 20

percent of applicants failed the background check, the passing rate for the enumerator and crew

leader tests was high.

In order to resolve some early problems with delivery of materials for pre-NRFU operations such as

Special Places Enumeration, the Regional Office implemented an electronic materials request system. The paper request system was replaced in late March. Consequently, delivery time improved

from 30-40 days to 7-10 days.

Local and statewide funds for promotion kept awareness of the census high in Sacramento. The

City of Sacramento and the local Complete Count Committee committed $150,000 to supplement

the public awareness campaigns run by the state and the Census Bureau. Additionally, the State of

California allocated $24.7 million to assist localities with their census effort. As the nation’s most

undercounted state in 1990, California improved its mail response rate by 5 percentage points,

beating the national average with 70 percent.
213

SACRAMENTO NORTH

Local Census Office #2721

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Sacramento North office effectively built upon the foundation laid during the 1998 Dress Rehearsal. Its networking and community presence helped ensured high Initial Rates of Return. It

was a smoothly running office that completed its operations ahead of schedule, especially NRFU.

Observations

The Sacramento North LCO incorporated many lessons from the 1998 Dress Rehearsal: recruiting

culturally sensitive enumerators, working closely with community leaders, and dealing effectively

with HTE neighborhoods.

Believing it placed an additional burden on applicants, the community-based organizations the

LCO worked with persuaded the Bureau to not administer the English Proficiency Test. Of the

700+ enumerators that were hired, between 150 and 200 were bilingual, fluent in Chinese, Spanish,

Russian, Korean or Vietnamese.

The local CCC established an excellent working relationship with the Bureau and in doing so,

identified the locations and workers that were instrumental in establishing 52 QACs and 139 “Be

Counted!” sites. Among such large partners as the NAACP, the Urban League and MALDEF, the

Organization of Chinese-Americans trained over 150 volunteers. The local CCC was also able to

provide volunteers from the Hmong and Lao communities. The California CCC provided funding

to the local CCC, which was used to buy radio and television advertising, list QAC locations in

newspapers and underwrite the cost of the April 1 Cal Expo, an event that attracted over 3,000

attendees. Results from the Sacramento North office demonstrated how valuable a local CCC is in

ensuring a successful census.

To address its 18 difficult tracts, the LCO management team wrote an HTE Action Plan (not provided to the Monitoring Board), which seemed to be implemented effectively. Within these 18

tracts, there were new immigrants and pockets of language isolation, low-income areas, large numbers of transient renters and sections where apathy and suspicion of the federal government were

prevalent. The tracts included Asians, Hispanics, African-Americans and growing Russian and

Hmong communities. The HTE areas were completed first. In order to address high-crime areas,

trailer parks and apartment complexes, the Bureau used its blitz enumeration strategy to complete

the NRFU workload.

The area’s mail response rate was about 71 percent, which led to a smaller-than-expected NRFU

workload. The office completed NRFU on June 19, thus allowing about one hundred enumerators

to work in three nearby offices.
214
215

SAN FRANCISCO NORTHEAST

Local Census Office #2746

Overview

Dates of Visits:

April 7, 2000

May 31, 2000

June 29, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

60%

NRFU Workload

50,022 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The San Francisco Northeast LCO was located at 600 Harrison Street, San Francisco, California.

According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 49 tracts in the LCO, of which 28

(57.14 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 113,818 housing units. The

area’s composition was approximately 59 percent white, 20 percent Asian Americans (mostly of

Chinese, Vietnamese and Filipino decent) 11 percent African-American, six percent Hispanic and

one percent Native American. The office was located outside the LCO’s boundaries, sharing space

with the National Park Service. GSA was unable to secure a lease in the LCO area.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$15.50 $27.50 $23.00 $19.75 $19.75 $11.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
216

SAN FRANCISCO NORTHEAST

Local Census Office #2746

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Given the barriers to enumeration that confronted it – high mobility, unusual housing units and

diverse cultures and languages — the San Francisco Northeast LCO produced complete and thorough work. The manager, with over three decades of census experience, boosted the LCO’s performance.

Observations

Although 1990 census numbers dictated that 28 of the LCO’s 51 tracts were HTE, management

reported that the area is currently more dense and harder to enumerate than it was ten years ago.

Nevertheless, promotional efforts and awareness were high and mail response was excellent at 60

percent (this result cannot be directly compared to the 1990 census because the LCO boundaries in

San Francisco have changed. Nevertheless, everyone familiar with the census in the area agrees

that the 2000 mail response rate was excellent in the San Francisco North jurisdiction.)

Managers felt their recruiting was successful because they hired many enumerators who were fluent in English and one of 14 other languages. Most of the hires were part time.

This LCO hired homeless men and women to help conduct the homeless enumeration. The LCOM

emphasized the positive contribution homeless enumerators made. Visa checks (which do not

require a bank account to be cashed) were special issued for payment. Those without bank accounts

or mailing addresses could pick up their checks at the LCO.

The AMFO reported that staff often attempted enumeration more than six times per household.

Keeping within the required time frame, enumerators were encouraged to visit houses four or more

times, if they believed the house could still be enumerated.

The office reported 2,500 contacts with people in need of assistance at the 17 QACs and 43 Be

Counted Sites. These QACs were more successful than those in other LCO districts, however, the

LCOM said this operation was time intensive. He recommended eliminating the QAC operation

during the next census unless the QACs can be better advertised.

QACs were originally designed to aid people filling out their census forms. Instead, many centers

served as small Bureau outposts to the community, more useful for answering general questions

about the census than helping people fill out their forms. For this reason, the LCOM thought

selected centers should be open throughout field operations.

Managers said the original address list was very accurate. The City of San Francisco worked with

[Continued on page 218]
217

SAN FRANCISCO NORTHEAST

Local Census Office #2746

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The San Francisco Northeast LCO had one of the most difficult areas to enumerate. Its area of

responsibility includes some of the most affluent, as well as the poorest. Even with a change in

management at the LCO, it was efficiently run and appeared to be on track for a successful census.

Observations

Within the office’s HTE tracts, the Bureau was faced with undocumented people, as well as language and cultural barriers. Many houses in this area have converted apartments, which may not be

in accordance with building codes, but must be enumerated nonetheless. The office’s notable HTE

neighborhoods had their own challenges – Chinatown, linguistic isolation; the Tenderloin, low

income and a high percentage of new immigrants; and the Western Addition, suspicion of the

government. During the 1990 Census, about 2.9 percent of the population was undercounted, and

of those enumerated, half spoke languages other than English in their homes.

Following the office’s HTE Action Plan, the Bureau employed a team enumeration strategy to

complete NRFU in Chinatown. A high-level city/county staff member who served as a liaison to

the LCO, said there was a shortage of census questionnaires in Chinese and Chinese language

guides at the outset of the census operations. While the Bureau was able to provide more Chinese

forms and language guides, this official was concerned that the initial shortage hurt efforts to enumerate the Chinese American population.

During the Special Places enumeration of the homeless, enumerators wore bright orange vests and

carried flashlights that were provided by the City and County of San Francisco in an effort to

improve the enumeration.

Commendably, the office’s recruiting efforts were successful in an area with an unemployment rate

below two percent. The office used specific individuals to meet its goals in the minority communities. Retention was high; dropout and no-show rates were low. The three LCOs in San Francisco

allocated their training facilities and used one toll-free number to coordinate all the testing.

During the June 29 Monitoring Board visit, the LCOM described an ambitious, though artificially

imposed, deadline of June 20 for the completion of NRFU. LCOs were pressured by the Seattle

RCC to finish their workload earlier than others. The San Francisco Northeast office completed

NRFU on June 18, though LCO staff was uncertain why the Seattle RCC had accelerated the deadline.

Although the office completed Reinterview on June 28, the LCO staff was concerned with its

integration into the bulk of the NRFU phase. Reinterview, the Bureau’s quality control procedure,

is designed to compare data collected by enumerators with data collected by telephone agents.
218

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

Resulting from this process, 14 enumerators were dismissed for failing to fill out forms correctly

and one was terminated for outright falsification. Based on the amount of visits we conducted,

these figures seem to be consistent with other offices.

Under the leadership of Mayor Willie Brown and the County Board of Supervisors, the San Fransisco

CCC was established. Of note, the City and County of San Francisco allocated $350 thousand in

the Fiscal Year 2000 budget for the committee. The California CCC and the San Francisco Foundation also provided funding for partnership efforts. Organizations like the NAACP, the Urban

League, MALDEF, Chinese Newcomers, and Chinese for Affirmative Action were instrumental in

establishing about 20 QACs that served almost 2,500 people. Results from the San Francisco Northeast office demonstrated how valuable a local CCC is in ensuring a successful census.

the Bureau during LUCA and put together an excellent address list. The few issues the office had

to deal with included: the prevalence of residential hotels, corporate offices serving as temporary

living quarters, and a large number of hidden units. For example, some people lived in garages or

in-law suites. The AMFO reported that one man lived in the back room of his store. Furthermore,

the office had some initial difficulty figuring out how to differentiate between consulates and embassies on the census forms.

Fear of the government and the desire to protect privacy caused a number of violent refusals during

NRFU. The LCOM reported some non-respondents chased enumerators down the stairs and across

the street.

Due to extremely high real estate costs in the LCO district and the unavailability of space in less

expensive areas, the LCO had to locate just south of its jurisdiction. However, this did not hinder

the LCO’s work.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
219

Date of Visit:

April 7, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

69%

NRFU Workload

37,291 housing units

LCO Type

Type A Office (entirely mailout/mailback, mainly urban, hardest to enumerate)

Geographic Description

The San Francisco West LCO was located at 301 Howard Street, San Francisco, California. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 49 tracts in the LCO, of which 31 were

HTE. According to the LCOM, the LCO encompassed approximately 122,000 housing units. This

LCO was responsible for the enumeration of a large number of multi-family units, undocumented

residents and minority communities such as Asian-Americans, Latinos, Russians, and Eastern Europeans.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$15.50 $27.50 $23.00 $19.75 $19.75 $11.75

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS

SAN FRANCISCO WEST

Local Census Office #2725

Overview
220

SAN FRANCISCO WEST

Local Census Office #2725

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

The San Francisco West LCO jurisdiction achieved a high mail back rate (69 percent), effectively

narrowing the scope of NRFU coverage to approximately 37,000 housing units. Due to the development of a detailed Hard-to-Enumerate plan and staff commitment, census takers overcame significant enumeration challenges presented by the LCO’s dense, racially and ethnically diverse urban setting.

Observations

The LCOM, a Vietnamese-American with strong ties to local community groups and elected officials, attributed the LCO’s success principally to the Bureau’s support and faithful implementation

of its operating procedures. The LCOM specifically praised the Bureau for developing a strong

management training program and responding quickly to requests for materials and supplies.

QACs and Be Counted sites were established in areas that drew significant traffic. The materials

and information that were distributed personalized the census for those who otherwise might not

have participated.

By all accounts, the LCO succeeded in recruiting qualified staff despite obvious difficulties in such

a strong economy. Competitive pay rates set by the Bureau proved invaluable in attracting and

retaining personnel throughout the census operation.

While communication between field staff and management went reasonably well, the level of interaction would have been better if the LCO was located within its enumeration jurisdiction. We drew

the same conclusion in other LCOs we visited, including San Francisco West, Boston South, Los

Angeles West Central and San Diego South. In these locations, the General Services Administration could not find adequate LCO space on a temporary lease.

Local and state elected officials are to be commended for enhancing the LCO’s public outreach

effort. San Francisco’s Complete Count Committee was said to have helped educate residents of

the importance of filling out their forms and urging them to cooperate with enumerators. In addition, the State of California allocated $24.7 million to assist localities with their census effort. As

the nation’s most undercounted state in 1990, California improved its mail response rate by 5 percentage points, beating the national average with 70 percent.
221

SAN FRANCISCO WEST

Local Census Office #2725

Congressional Members’ Summary

[The Congressional Members of the Monitoring Board did not visit the San Francisco West

LCO.]
222
223

PORTLAND

Local Census Office #2735

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 27, 2000

May 8, 2000

June 14, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

69%

NRFU Workload

92,732 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Portland LCO was located in the Customs House Federal Building at 220 NW Eighth Avenue,

Portland, Oregon. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 160 tracts in the

LCO, of which 44 (27.50 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 255,751

housing units. The office’s jurisdiction had a rapidly growing Hispanic population and substantial

Slavic and Asian communities.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$12.50 $24.50 $20.00 $16.75 $16.75 $9.50

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
224

PORTLAND

Local Census Office #2735

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

This LCO was responsible for operations in the city of Portland and its suburban environs. Despite

a recent influx of non-English speaking immigrants, the office achieved a 69 percent mail-response

rate, 3 percent better than in 1990.

Observations

The Portland office’s management team was exceptionally seasoned and competent. The LCOM

had prior Bureau experience, having occupied the same position in 1990. Since it possessed institutional memory and experience, the office found it relatively easy to tap into the network of local

community leaders and political officials.

Thanks to its high mail-response rate, Portland’s NRFU workload was smaller than originally anticipated. The LCOM noted that this census was the best publicized in history and that heightened

public awareness contributed to the success of NRFU operations. Managers in San Francisco, San

Antonio and Philadelphia echoed this praise.

The office commenced NRFU operations the last week in April and finished on June 13th—putting

it close to first in the Seattle Region. Management in Portland, like in many other offices visited by

Board staff, reported that the widely publicized comments of certain national political figures and

media personalities regarding the public’s duty to complete the long-form added to the LCO’s

burden. Portland’s experience was confirmed by a May 2000 report by InterSurvey that found “the

public controversy over the long form had a negative impact on census participation.”

The office found that the Planning Database—which was integrated with thematic mapping technology to great effect—contributed to its success; for, save one exception, the 2000 HTE tracts

were identical to those in 1990.

Portland surpassed its recruiting goal by a factor greater than two and the office never faced any

turnover problems or staffing shortages. Indeed, it was able to assist the Salem, Eugene, and Eureka offices—supplying upwards of 30 enumerators to each. The LCOM attributed Portland’s

success to competitive wages, a training regime and supervisory structure conducive to good morale, and the practice of tracking recruiting on the tract level. Additionally, Portland addressed the

challenges posed by part-time employees working few hours up-front. A concerted effort to hire

full-time employees was undertaken. Applicants were made to understand that the office expected

part-time workers to put in 25 hours per week and part-time and full-time employees were grouped

into separate crews.

[Continued on page 222]
225

PORTLAND

Local Census Office #2735

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Portland LCO faced the challenge of trying to count a large Russian immigrant population

without Russian language materials. The LCO incorporated suggestions from community groups

in the HTE strategy, and used its CCC to assist recruiting.

Observations

Within the office’s 44 HTE tracts, there were ethnic, language and cultural barriers, as well as a

mistrust of government. During the 1990 Census, an estimated 1.7 percent of the population in

these tracts were undercounted.

The LCO made an attempt to solicit advice from community groups, which resulted in suggestions

that appeared to be helpful. For instance, community groups encouraged the Bureau to employ

local facilitators and bilingual enumerators, rather than blitz enumeration, in its HTE neighborhoods.

The LCO established a good working relationship with the local CCC that assisted the Bureau in

recruiting over 6,000 potential employees. Volunteers from religious organizations rounded out

the efforts, especially in the office’s six worst HTE tracts, where crime rates were high.

Although approximately 3,900 forms, many intended for apartment complexes, were returned to

the LCO as UAA, the LCO reported that they were able to deal with these effectively. In addition,

to the office’s credit, enumerators reportedly made more than the required six visits to households

during NRFU.

The Portland Russian community could have benefited from Russian language materials. We learned

from a local pastor that “half” of his Russian-speaking community had thrown away their forms

and Notices of Visit because they could not read English. The census questionnaire was available in

only five languages other than English (Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean). Certainly, these six languages are the most common as there are spoken by 99 percent of the people in

America, however, significant populations of Russian speakers (among others) do exist, as is the

case in Portland. To gain trust, the LCO enlisted the help of church and associated religious leaders

in order to get the information out to the Russian community.
226

Portland worked closely with county government officials and succeeded in establishing solid relationships with the Mayor and the CCCs. Area CCCs were very active and contributed to the LCO’s

successful outreach to minorities. The fruit of these efforts was made evident by the over 2,200

visits to the 75 Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QACs.)

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
227

TACOMA

Local Census Office #2745

Overview

Dates of Visits:

March 27, 2000

May 8, 2000

June 14, 2000

Mailback Response Rate

61%

NRFU Workload

114,835 housing units

LCO Type

Type C Office (includes mailout/mailback and update/leave enumeration areas)

Geographic Description

The Tacoma LCO was located in the Tacoma Security Building at 917 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma,

Washington. According to the February 2000 Tract Action Plan, there were 117 tracts in the LCO,

of which 80 (68.38 percent) were HTE. According to the 1990 PDB, there were 228,842 housing

units. The office had a large ethnic mix (including Cambodians, Russians, African-Americans,

Vietnamese, Koreans and Hispanics) and two military installations in the surrounding area.

Pay Rates

NRFU 

Enumerator

Local Census 

Office Manager

Assistant Manager 

Field Operations

Assistant Manager 

Recruiting

Assistant Manager 

Administration Clerks

$13.25 $25.25 $20.75 $17.50 $17.50 $10.00

NRFU Enumerator Staffing By Week

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

5/1/005/8/00

5/15/005/22/005/29/00

6/5/00

6/12/006/19/006/26/00

WEEKS

ENUMERATORS
228

TACOMA

Local Census Office #2745

Presidential Members’ Summary

Summary

Given the recent influx of Asian and Slavic immigrants, which management judged impacted Census awareness in the aggregate, efforts in this office met with a surprising degree of success. The

Tacoma LCO met its recruiting goal and completed NRFU operations on time despite its lower than

expected mail response rate of 61 percent.

Observations

Though it met its initial recruiting goal, the LCO faced staffing shortfalls. Approximately 25 percent of the qualified applicants who were offered jobs did not appear for training. Of those that did

show up, more than 40 percent dropped out by the second day. And among those who completed

the training, some 20 percent did not stay for the long-term. Consequently, the LCO had only half

the staff it needed when NRFU operations commenced, and it was forced to implement a large scale

new and replacement staff training regime. The LCOM conjectured that low unemployment was a

contributing factor.

The office received a myriad of long-form complaints. In keeping with the nationwide trend, enumerators reported that more than a few respondents said that they mailed back their forms and did

not understand why someone was knocking on their door. The LCOM thought many of these

complaints could be attributed to respondents mailing their forms back too late to avoid being

included in NRFU. The April 1st reference date and the lack of an IRS-style mail-back deadline

may have confused the public.

Notwithstanding its staffing challenges, Tacoma managed to complete NRFU operations in midJune, meeting the RCC’s target completion date. Early on, the LCO saw a shift in HTE tracts

toward the south. For example, according to the Planning Database, in 1990 the Hilltop area had

the highest HTE concentrations. This time around, however, it was Lakewood. University Place (a

newly incorporated entity) proved easiest to enumerate, thanks in large part to involvement of its

government officials.

The relationships the LCO cultivated with the Tax Assessor’s office and the fire department in

Pierce County yielded positive results. The County Tax Assessor’s office was able to train census

personnel on the use of its database. This information was especially helpful to locate knowledgeable sources on renter occupied units. The fire department provided enumerators with codes for

gated communities where enumerators faced problems gaining access.

Staff accompanied enumerators working NRFU cases in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma in

early May. The friendly persistence of the enumerators often elicited respondent participation, en-

[Continued on page 226]
229

TACOMA

Local Census Office #2745

Congressional Members’ Summary

Summary

The Tacoma LCO was responsible for enumerating a very diverse community in an urban/rural mix

that also included several military installations and Indian reservations. The office appeared to

meet its challenges, though recruiting was difficult and many enumerators faced threats to their

well being.

Observations

Within the office’s HTE tracts, the Bureau had to overcome a mistrust of government, resistance to

the long form and the methods in which the data was collected. High crime and a significant

homeless population in shelters also characterized the HTE tracts. The Bureau employed local

facilitators, identified by the local CCC in partnership with tribal governments, to improve the

enumeration on two Indian reservations. The HTE Action Plan included the blitz enumeration

strategy, even though its implementation did not always go as planned. For example, at one set of

high-rise apartments, 20 enumerators were assigned to canvas the building, but because the office

manager had to accompany them, the net effect was a single enumerator, rather than 20. The blitz

enumeration strategy was used effectively in 15 local trailer parks.

We are concerned with the results of recruiting efforts. Specifically, we noted a high rate of turnover (reported at 70 percent during the June 13 Monitoring Board visit) and a high amount of

dropouts after the first day of training (reported at 44 percent during the May 9 visit). During the

March 27 Monitoring Board visit, the LCOM reported about 800 potential employees could not

pass the background check. Although the office exceeded its hiring goal for enumerators during

NRFU, about 25 percent of identified applicants failed to show up for enumerator training and 10

percent did not appear for work upon the completion of training (reported during March 27 visit).

Reportedly, some did not understand an enumerator’s job requirements. Of the office’s 54 CLs,

five were released, due to cultural and language barriers which prevented their effective employment. Recruiting in the Vietnamese and Cambodian communities was reported as difficult.

Due to the Bureau’s Post Office Box non-delivery policy, residents of the three towns of South

Prairie, Roy, and Gig Harbor were missed, which affected about ten thousand households. Households that received their mail at Post Office Boxes were treated like NRFU cases. Due to ongoing

conversions to E-911 style addressing, other residents received duplicate forms because of multiple

addresses and their various iterations.

The city of University Place, incorporated in 1995, posted an impressive mailback response rate of

73.1 percent, the highest response rate within the LCO’s territory.

Bureau staff used innovative methods to reduce the amount of proxy data that was gathered by the
230

Tacoma LCO. Working in conjunction with the Pierce County Assessor’s office, and after receiving three hours of training on research techniques, FOSs obtained the owners’ names and renter

information. This was a successful use of administrative records to improve local accuracy, which

we highlighted in our February 1, 1999 report to Congress.

The Tacoma office faced a surprising amount of danger to its enumerators. During the June 13

visit, the LCO staff disclosed that there had been four shootings at enumerators in rural areas and

two enumerators had had guns pulled on them within the city limits. One 18-year old enumerator

was assaulted by four teenagers and lay on the sidewalk for over an hour before regaining consciousness. As result of his injuries, he missed his school’s graduation. A 71-year-old enumerator

had a minor heart attack after a gun was pointed at her. Two workers in Pierce County were

assigned to enumerate a building that turned out to contain methamphetamine labs. Both workers

inhaled the fumes and were hospitalized.

[Congressional Members’ Summary Continued]

abling the short forms to be completed in less than five minutes. As in the other offices visited,

“Notice of Visit” flyers served as useful calling cards for people who were not at home. However,

the flyers were printed only in English. The Board believes that in 2010 such notices should include information in other dominate languages, much as the “Advance Letter” did.

[Presidential Members’ Summary Continued]
231

Report to Congress Appendix October 1, 2000

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

“90 plus five” – Response Rate Goal

Goal the Census Bureau Director suggested for local governments. The “90” refers to the mail back

rate an area had during the 1990 census. The “plus five” refers to the goal of achieving five percentage points better. For example, the city of Modesto had a 65 percent mail back rate in 1990. For

2000, the Director asked that the city work toward achieving a 70 percent mail back response rate.

AM – Area Manager

Supervisor responsible for several LCO operations within a specific geographical area. This position is based in the Regional Census Center.

AMA – Assistant Manager for Administration

Mid-level supervisor responsible for various administrative duties within a LCO such as payroll.

AMFO – Assistant Manager of Field Operation

LCO’s “second in-command.” Reporting directly to the LCOM, the AMFO is in charge of overseeing the field operations of the LCO.

ARCM – Assistant Regional Census Manager

“Second in command” within the RCC structure. Some RCCs had more than one ARCM.

Background Check

Formal search for criminal histories, warrants etc. Every person hired by the Census Bureau went

through such checks.

Be Counted Program

Bureau program that provided unaddressed questionnaire forms to individuals who believed they

were not counted. These census questionnaires are called Be Counted forms. Be Counted forms

were available at all QACs and additional Be Counted Sites (unstaffed display stands containing Be

Counted Forms). Questionnaires were located in high-traffic places like convenience stores and

healthcare centers, usually in Hard-to-Enumerate areas.

Blitz Enumeration

A style of enumeration that used groups of enumerators to canvas an entire apartment building,

block or neighborhood. Often used in crime-ridden or government-fearing communities. Same as

Team Enumeration.

CCC – Complete Count Committee

A volunteer committee comprised of community leaders. These committees supplemented LCO

efforts with Census 2000 outreach, promotion, recruiting, and enumeration assistance.
232

CIFU – Coverage Improvement Follow-up

Post NRFU census operation during which housing units with “vacant” or “deleted” status are

verified.

CL – Crew Leader

A line supervisor in charge of about 15 enumerators. Responsible for monitoring the progress of

enumerators.

Close-Out

When LCOs completed 95 percent of their field enumeration, they commenced close-out procedures. Enumerators visited any remaining open cases a final time and were instructed to obtain data

from friends, neighbors, or others in the community if respondents were not at home.

CMB or “the Board” – Census Monitoring Board

The U.S. Census Monitoring Board

CMBC – Census Monitoring Board Congressional Members

The four members of CMB appointed by Congressional leadership (the Speaker of the House and

the Senate Majority Leader).

CMBP – Census Monitoring Board Presidential Members

The four members of CMB appointed by the President.

Colonias – Small, rural, unincorporated communities primarily along the Texas/Mexico border.

These communities often lack basic services such as water, paved roads, and sewage systems.

They were usually HTE and were enumerated by the list/enumerate method.

E-911 Address

A unique number posted on or near a housing unit, especially in rural areas, for use by emergency

personnel. May or may not be used for mail delivery.

ELCO – Early Local Census Office

These are local census offices that opened a year earlier than other LCOs to prepare for census

operations.

English Proficiency Test

The Census Bureau requires that employees must have a certain level of knowledge with the English language. The Bureau constructed a test to grade a potential employee’s proficiency with

English. Failing the test could result in not being hired.

FOS – Field Office Supervisor

Supervised the CLs within a LCO office.

Front loading

Recruiting or hiring more applicants than are actually needed so that predictable attrition will not

erode full employment level goals.
233

GSA – General Services Administration

Federal agency that was responsible for finding office space for the LCOs, as well as maintenance

and upkeep of those offices.

HTE – Hard-to-Enumerate

Term used to identify a census block or group of blocks that, based on 1990 data, met certain

criteria (e.g., low mail response rate, linguistically isolated community) which indicated the area

would be difficult to enumerate in the 2000 census.

HTE Plans – Hard-to-Enumerate Plans or Hard-to-Enumerate Action Plans

Bureau-generated strategies to count Hard-to-Enumerate areas. Census Bureau Headquarters developed the initial HTE Plans (based on 1990 census data) and Local Census Offices updated and

expanded their plans to suit changes to their jurisdictions since 1990.

LCO – Local Census Office

A temporary Census Bureau office established to conduct census operations at the local level. For

Census 2000, the Bureau established 520 LCOs. For an organizational chart of a LCO see page

236.

LCOM – Local Census Office Manager

Individual responsible for the overall management and success of a LCO. All assistant managers

reported to the LCOM.

L/E – List/Enumerate

Method of collecting data employed in sparsely populated and remote areas such as rural Wyoming. Census Bureau employees located the housing units, personally enumerated the households,

and updated the census maps when necessary.

LUCA – Local Update of Census Addresses

Program established to provide local and tribal governments the opportunity to review and update

address information in the MAF.

MAF – Master Address File

Census Bureau data source containing the addresses of every known housing unit.

Mail Back Response Rate

Percentage of housing units that returned their questionnaires via the mail during the MO/MB

phase.

MALDEF – Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

National nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and promote the civil rights of the more

than 29 million Latinos living in the United States.

MO/MB – Mailout/Mailback

Method of collecting census data achieved through the use of the U.S. Postal Service delivering

questionnaires to housing units with city style addresses. Residents of such units complete the

forms and mail them back in stamped self-addressed envelopes. Eighty percent of the nation’s
234

housing units were enumerated in this manner.

NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

A large and influential civil rights organization whose principal objectives are to eliminate race

prejudice and ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of minority group

citizens of the United States.

NRFU – Non-Response Follow-Up

Following the MO/MB phase, census enumerators canvassed housing units from which the Census

Bureau did not receive questionnaires.

PDB – Planning Database

Data source used by the Census Bureau to develop enumeration strategies throughout the country.

The PDB was based on data from the 1990 Census.

Paired Enumeration

Enumeration style that used two enumerators instead of one. It was commonly employed in highcrime neighborhoods.

P. O. Box Delivery

The Bureau instructed the Postal Service not to deliver, or forward, census forms to Post Office

Boxes. Census questionnaires inadvertently addressed to P.O. Boxes were categorized as UAAs

and returned to the LCO. (See also UAA – Undeliverable As Addressed.)

Privacy Act

The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a (1994) (amended 1996, 5 U.S.C.A. § 552a (West Supp.

1997)), which became effective on September 27, 1975. The Act provides for a “code of fair

information practices” which regulates the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of personal information by federal government agencies.

Proxy Data

Data collected for housing units from sources other than the housing unit resident, such as neighbors, postal carriers, or building managers.

PS – Partnership Specialist

Census Bureau employees who worked for the RCCs in assisting the LCOs and local communities

in building awareness and increasing participation in Census 2000.

PSA

Public Service Announcement.

QAC – Questionnaire Assistance Center

Centers established by LCOs to assist residents with completing their census questionnaires. These

centers were usually located in community centers, large apartment buildings, and shopping centers, and staffed by volunteers and/or Census Bureau employees.

RCC – Regional Census Center

For enumeration purposes, the Bureau divided the nation into 12 regions—each having one Re-
235

gional Census Center. The RCCs managed and supported the LCOs within their regions. For an

organizational chart of a RCC see page 237.

Regional Director

Census Bureau official responsible for a Regional Office.

Re-interview

Census Bureau quality control process whereby randomly selected housing units were contacted

again to ensure that the original enumerators corrected complete and accurate data.

Special Places

Places where people live that contain one or more group quarters. A few examples are colleges,

hospitals, prisons, hotels, military bases, and ships.

Team Enumeration

Synonym for blitz enumeration.

Toolkit

Set of strategies (blitz enumeration, paired enumeration, and the like) available to LCOs in order to

develop their HTE plans.

UAA – Undeliverable As Addressed

U.S. Postal Service notification that a mailing piece cannot be delivered to the designated address.

The reasons varied, but in most instances the housing units were vacant, non-existent, or had been

demolished. The Postal Service returned UAA questionnaires to the Bureau. (See also P. O. Box

Delivery )

U/L – Update/Leave

Census data collection method whereby enumerators delivered questionnaires to housing units that

did not have recorded city style addresses. Occupants were expected to complete and mail back to

the Bureau.
236

LOCAL CENSUS OFFICE(LCO) ORGANIZATION

OFFICE 

OPERATIONS 

SUPERVISORS

(OOS)

SELECTING

OFFICE 

OPERATIONS 

SUPERVISORS

(OOS)

RECRUITING

TESTING 

CLERKS

STOCK & 

SUPPLY 

CLERK

CLERKS

RCC COMMUNITY 

PARTNERSHIP SPECIALIST LCO MANAGER ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

AUTOMATION

SPECIALIST

CLERKS RECRUITING 

ASSISTANTS CLERKS CLERKS

OFFICE 

OPERATIONS 

SUPERVISORS

(OOS)

AUTOMATION

OFFICE 

OPERATIONS 

SUPERVISORS

(OOS)

PERSONNEL/

PAYROLL

ASSISTANT MANAGER

 ADMINISTRATION(AMA)

ASSISTANT MANAGER

 FIELD OPERATIONS (AMFO)

ASSISTANT MANAGER 

RECRUITING (AMR)

ENUMERATORS ENUMERATORS ENUMERATORS CLERKS

SPECIAL PLACE

OPERATIONS 

SUPERVISOR

FIELD OPERATIONS

SUPERVISOR (FOS)

OTHER OPERATIONS

FIELD

OPERATIONS

SUPERVISOR (FOS)

CREW LEADERS OFFICE

OPERATIONS

SUPERVISOR

(OOS)

SPECIAL

PLACES

CREW

LEADERS

AND

ASSISTANTS

CREW

LEADERS

REINTERVIEW

CREW

LEADERS

REPLACEMENT

TRAINING

OFFICE

OPERATIONS

SUPERVISOR

(OOS)

ASSIGNMENT

PREP/

CONTROL

Source: 22 February 1999 briefing from Associate Director for Field Operations.
237

REGIONAL CENSUS CENTER (RCC)

ORGANIZATION

INFORMATION

SERVICES 

SPECIALIST

PARTNERSHIP

TEAM

LEADERS

GEOGRAPHIC

MAP/CENSUS

GEOGRAPHY

GEOGRAPHIC

SPECIALISTS

REGIONAL DIRECTOR

ASSISTANT REGIONAL DIRECTOR

ASSISTANT REGIONAL CENSUS MANAGERS

RCC RECRUITER

PARTNERSHIP

COORDINATOR

AUTOMATION

TECHNICIAN

(UNIX)

GEOGRAPHIC

COORDINATOR

COMMUNITY

PARTNERSHIP

SPECIALISTS

GOVERNMENT

PARTNERSHIP

SPECIALISTS

REGIONAL TECH

ADMINISTRATIVE

(FIELD)

MEDIA

PARTNERSHIP

SPECIALISTS

GEOGRAPHIC

MAP/LUCA

GEOGRAPHY

GEOGRAPHIC

SPECIALISTS

ADMINISTRATIVE

SUPERVISOR

REGIONAL TECH

ADMINISTRATIVE

(FIELD)

ADMINISTRATIVE

SPECIALIST

PERSONNEL/RECORDS

ADMINISTRATIVE SPECIALIST

SPACE/LEASING

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

AUTOMATION 

SUPERVISOR

SYSTEM 

MANAGER

DATA BASE

ADMINISTRATOR

REGIONAL

TECHNICIANS

AUTOMATION (RCC)

AUTOMATION

ASSISTANTS

AREA MANAGERS

REGIONAL TECH

OPERATIONS SPECIALIST

REGIONAL TECH OFFICE 

SUPPORT (RCC)

LCO MANAGERS

NON-SUPERVISORY

REGIONAL TECH (FIELD)

SUPERVISORY TECH

(FIELD)

Source: 22 February 1999 briefing from the

Associate Director for Field Operations.