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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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 scheduled 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.

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.