They range from such things as police and fire protection to school funding, help for day care and senior centers and even helping businesses plan where to locate new enterprises. Each person counts Glenn Oliver, who is directing the city's census count team for Mayor Dennis Archer, applauds such devotion to the city and stresses the importance of a complete count for Detroit. The census is also used for many other things. It determines our representation in state and federal government, how funds are allocated for hundreds of services, like home improvement grants, and even helps determine if our city qualifies for empowerment zone designation. Congress, which decreed census count every 10 years, uses census totals to determine how many seats each state will have in the House of Representatives.
States use the numbers to allocate seats in their legislatures.
Census figures help state and local governments, community organizations and businesses decide the best locations for schools, roads, hospitals, clinics, libraries, day care and senior citizen centers, playgrounds, bus routes, job training programs and more. For example, many 911 emergency systems are based on maps developed for the last census. This information helps health providers predict the spread of disease. When floods, tornadoes or earthquakes hit, the census tells rescuers how many people will need help. When Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida in 1991, census information aided the rescue effort by providing estimates of the number of people in each block.