The U.S. Census Bureau will begin address canvassing in Southfield on Monday, April 20. The Bureau needs the address and physical location of each living quarters in the United States to conduct the 2010 Census.
The address canvassing operation will be conducted out of 151 local census offices across the U.S. In most cases, census workers will knock on doors to verify addresses and inquire about additional living quarters on the premises. The operation will use new hand-held computers equipped with GPS to increase geographic accuracy. The ability to capture GPS coordinates for most of the nation’s housing units will greatly reduce the number of geographic coding errors caused by using paper maps in previous counts.
“The primary goal of the census is to count everyone once, only once, and in the right place,” said Tom Mesenbourg, acting director of the U.S. Census Bureau. “Because the census is used for reapportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and the distribution of more than $300 billion in federal dollars every year to state and local governments, it’s essential to get this first step right.”
2010 Census workers will never ask for bank or social security information. All census information collected, including addresses, are confidential and protected by law. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents’ answers with the FBI, the IRS, CIA, Welfare, Immigration, or any other government agency. No court of law or law enforcement agency can find out respondents’ answers. All Census Bureau employees — including temporary employees — take an oath for life to keep census information confidential. Any violation of that oath is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and five years in prison.
For more information, contact Christine Jaddou, U.S. Census Bureau partnership specialist, at (313) 396-5200.