For Immediate Release: October 18, 2000

Report to Congress Details Census Monitoring Board's
Observations of 51 Local Census Offices Nationwide

WASHINGTON - The bipartisan U.S. Census Monitoring Board today issued its fourth Joint Report to Congress summarizing the Board's observations of 51 Local Census Offices (LCOs) representing all 12 Census Regions as well as an update of major census operations that have taken place since the Board's last published report on April 1, 2000.

The Board was created by Congress to observe and report on the implementation of the 2000 decennial census. The eight members of the Board include four appointed by the Congressional Leadership and four by the President. The report includes an overview of each of the 12 Census Regions and separate summaries by the Congressional and Presidential members of the Board of each LCO. The report can be accessed via the Board's respective web sites at www.cmbc.gov or www.cmbp.gov.

To enumerate the nation's 120 million housing units, the Census Bureau established 520 Local Census Offices throughout the nation to conduct a number of activities before, during and after Census Day (April 1). The managers and staff of the LCOs were responsible for local outreach, promotional activities to build awareness, recruitment of enumerators, follow-up with those that did not receive or return a census questionnaire and many other local activities detailed in the report.

A majority of the 51 LCOs selected by the Board comprised a high percentage of traditionally undercounted communities as determined by the U.S. Census Bureau's Planning Database. This database used 1990 census data to identify potentially hard-to-count census tracts including tracts that had low mail response rates; tracts in 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 the Board staff visited primarily urban LCOs, they also conducted observations of several offices in rural areas and one on an American Indian reservation. As a result, Board staff was able to observe a diverse cross-section of communities around the country. Beginning in March 2000 and continuing through the Non-Response Follow-Up period of July 2000, Board staff visited most LCOs three times (each office was visited at least once). Board and LCO staffs discussed the status of a broad range of operations issues during these meetings.

Board staff also observed fieldwork by census enumerators in two LCOs in each region. The LCO visits provided the Board with a local-level understanding of the preparation and implementation of the Census 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.

Following is the list of Census Regions and the location of the LCOs visited within those regions:

Atlanta Region:
Hialeah and Tampa, Florida; Atlanta West and Dalton, Georgia.

Boston Region:
New Haven, Connecticut; Boston South, Massachusetts; Burlington, Vermont.

Charlotte Region:
Corbin, Kentucky; Monroe, North Carolina; Conway, South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Richmond, Virginia.

Chicago Region:
Belleville, Chicago Near South and Chicago Near Southwest, Illinois; Indianapolis, Indiana; Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Dallas Region:
Orleans Parish, Louisiana; Greenville, Mississippi; El Paso, Harris County Northwest and San Antonio, Texas.

Denver Region:
Tucson and Window Rock, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Detroit Region:
Battle Creek and Detroit West, Michigan; Cincinnati and Cleveland, Ohio.

Kansas City Region:
Little Rock, Arkansas; Minneapolis West and St. Paul, Minnesota.

Los Angeles Region:
Compton, Los Angeles West and San Diego South, California.

New York Region:
Hudson County, New Jersey; Brooklyn South, New York North, and New York Northwest, New York.

Philadelphia Region:
Washington, DC; Baltimore East, Maryland; Altoona, Philadelphia North and Philadelphia South, Pennsylvania.

Seattle Region:
Modesto, Sacramento North, San Francisco Northeast and San Francisco West, California; Portland, Oregon; Tacoma, Washington.

The report and all LCO summaries can be viewed on the Board's respective web pages: www.cmbp.gov or www.cmbc.gov. If you would like a printed copy of the report, please contact Mario Lopez, Congressional Members at 301-457-5085, or John Chambers, Presidential Members at 301-713-6672.

Contact: John Chambers, Presidential Members, 301-713-6672
or Mario Lopez, Congressional Members, 301-457-5085