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

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

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, middle-aged 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.

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 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.

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

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.

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 second-highest 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.

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

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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

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.

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. 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-5^th) and Jerry Kleczka (D-4^th), 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.