Our cities are often overshadowed by larger ones like San Francisco and San Jose, or towns that are smaller yet richer or more “newsworthy,” like Berkeley and Palo Alto. The national census, which happens every 10 years, is a chance to not only update the numbers on our “Welcome To…” signs, but to make ourselves visible–as a state, as a region, as cities, and as age, gender, and ethnic communities.

In order to find out how much money the state, county, and city should get (for schools and other services), and how many representatives our state should have in Congress, we have to know how many people live in each city. Census results are also used look for inequalities such as civil rights violations, education disparities, and so on (and hopefully to help address these problems). So you and I really need to take a few minutes and fill out the census this year and send it in. It’s much shorter than usual, so it shouldn’t take much effort.

You can get information for it in lots of languages, so please encourage any friends or family who don’t read English well to fill it out, too. The details of the census are private for 72 years. According to US law, the INS, the FBI, Homeland Security, the IRS, the police, your landlord, etc., cannot get to the information you fill out. (And yes, non-citizens can and should fill it out. Anyone who is living at the address should be counted, regardless of their status.) So please fill it out honestly and fully, and remember to write down both adults and children in your household. New residents of the US, non-native English speakers, and younger people tend not to get represented, and that’s not good.

In 2000, although our area’s response rate was above average, a lot of people still didn’t get counted. Let’s change that!

Previously, Newark was the winner with a rate of 78%–well, that’s still only a grade of C, isn’t it?–followed by Union City 77%. Milpitas tied Fremont at 76% (my “tract” was at only 66%! Ouch, you guys! Especially with some other areas coming in at 84%!). I’m pretty sure we can do better than that.

It’s easiest if you mail it back right after you get it, (postage is paid for you), but if you don’t, you’ll probably get an in-person visit from a census taker. That worker will ask you the questions in person, so please be nice to them–they’re probably terrified of anti-government folks screaming at them. It’s just their job–and yes, technically, you are required to participate in the census and answer honestly, so it’s better to just get it done by mail.

About 3 million people will also receive the longer American Community Survey, which is a longer survey with socioeconomic questions that’s like the old long-form census. This is sent out every year to this relatively small segment of the population, so you probably won’t get it.

There’s a lot of information at the state census website, California Complete Count, and the national census website. You can see what’s on the questionnaire and why. You can read about some of the ways in which your community benefits from responses. There’s also a nice site for teachers and students. Queer the Census, an effort to get an outright question about sexual orientation placed on the census or American Community Survey, has a FAQ with advice about answering the census/ACS if you are LGBTQ and/or in a multiracial relationship (the latter because apparently the “ethnicity of a family” is determined by the ethnicity of whoever is listed as respondent #1, so if you were going to pick at random, you might want to consider that, since many groups are historically under-counted in the census).

Tags: representation