C E N S U S 2 0 0 0 B U L L E T I N S ***************************************** September 27, 1999 One of the lesser known new features of Census 2000 data tabulation is the planned use, for the first time, of ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (TM) (ZCTAs), a statistical entity developed by the Census Bureau as an approximation of the U. S. Postal Service's ZIP (R) Codes. ZIP Codes do not represent areas, but rather a network for the delivery of mail. The Census Bureau has released prototype ZCTAs for the three Census 2000 Dress Rehearsal sites (Columbia, S.C., and 11 surrounding counties; Menominee County, Wis.; and Sacramento, Calif.). Thus, the ZCTA will take its place alongside standard statistical tabulation areas, such as regions, divisions, metropolitan areas, urbanized areas, tribal statistical areas, county subdivisions, census designated places, census tracts, block groups and census blocks, as well as the legal and administrative areas for which the Census Bureau traditionally publishes summary data. The ZCTAs will be assigned in a computer-delineated process based on the Census Bureau's address list at the time of the census. The Census Bureau's address list itself is confidential under Title 13, U.S. Code, and therefore is not available to the public. ZCTAs follow census block boundaries, with the ZCTA code for each census block being the majority ZIP Code for addresses within that census block. Automated processes will extend ZCTA codes to blocks that have no addresses or no addresses with ZIP Codes. This means that the Census Bureau will be able to display the ZCTAs as polygons on maps. For the Census 2000 Dress Rehearsal sites, ZCTA codes are assigned to all land -- even that which is uninhabited -- and water areas, which will be displayed with three-digit instead of five-digit codes. A three-digit code indicates that the Census Bureau was not confident with the assignment of a five-digit code based on information available in its files. The Census Bureau hopes data users will look at its implementation of ZCTAs for the Census 2000 Dress Rehearsal sites and provide comments on the resulting product. More information is available on the Internet at http://www.census.gov/geo/ZCTA/zcta.html. ZCTAs exclude unique, single-delivery-point ZIP codes for firms and organizations, but do include dedicated Post Office Box ZIP Codes where a main post office has only Post Office Box deliveries. ZCTAs will be summary levels in both the 100 percent and sample data files and should be available at the same time as the data for the other summary levels, between June of 2001 and December of 2002. The Census Bureau's new American Community Survey plans to tabulate data for ZIP code tabulation areas once the 2000 ZCTAs become available. (ZCTA is a trademark of the U. S. Bureau of the Census. ZIP is a registered trademark of the U. S. Postal Service.) C E N S U S 2 0 0 0 B U L L E T I N S ***************************************** October 20, 1999 NEWS ALERT Commerce Spending Bill Moves Forward With Full Funding for Census 2000 A House-Senate conference committee completed negotiations earlier this week on the fiscal year 2000 (FY00) spending bill covering the Census Bureau. The Commerce, Justice, and State, The Judiciary and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (H.R. 2670) allocates about $4.5 billion for Census 2000, the amount requested by the Clinton Administration and included in the House version of the measure. The Senate had allocated only $2.8 billion in its version. The $4.5 billion is considered "emergency spending," a designation first made by House appropriators that removes those funds from tight discretionary program spending limits set in previous budget agreements. The House and Senate are expected to vote on the 'conference report' this week before sending it to the President for his signature or veto. (The text of the conference bill and related 'report language' explaining the intent of lawmakers is in House Report 106-398.) Congress passed a second temporary funding bill (called a Continuing Resolution) yesterday to keep federal agencies operating past the October 21st deadline in the first stopgap bill. The President has signed only five of the thirteen annual Federal funding bills since the start of fiscal year 2000 on October 1. He is expected to sign the second Continuing Resolution while budget negotiations continue between the White House and congressional leaders. The conference agreement on the Commerce spending bill retains a provision in the House bill that requires the Census Bureau to obtain approval from Congress to shift funds between decennial census activities. The bill divides the $4.5 billion for Census 2000 among broad categories of census operations, such as advertising and promotion, field data collection, and data processing. In an October 15th letter to House Census Subcommittee Chairman Dan Miller (R-FL), Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt called the reprogramming requirement "a dramatic departure from past practices" and said that significant delays in approving requests to transfer money could "compromise" census operations. "Decisions must be made quickly and frequently adjusted to adapt to ever-changing conditions in the field," Dr. Prewitt wrote. The director said that in previous spending bills, Congress has only required reprogramming notice and approval to shift funds between different agency programs. Advertising campaign launch: The Census Bureau will publicly launch the Census 2000 paid advertising campaign at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on October 27. Our last News Alert (October 12) included an earlier tentative date for the event of October 28. Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to TerriAnn Lowenthal at 202/484-2270 or, by e-mail at terriann2k@aol.com. For copies of previous News Alerts and other information, use our web site http://www.census2000.org. Please direct all requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to the Census 2000 Initiative at Census2000@ccmc.org. or 202/326-8700. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals. C E N S U S 2 0 0 0 B U L L E T I N S ***************************************** OCTOBER 25, 1999 **CENSUS BUREAU MEDIA ADVISORY** Census 2000 to Launch Largest-Ever Outreach Campaign On October 27, 1999, the Census Bureau will unveil for the media a nationwide multicultural and multilingual outreach campaign about the importance of participating in Census 2000. The preview will feature some of the advertising that will be used to educate and motivate the public about the census. For the first time, the campaign will incorporate paid television, radio and print ads. The ads target African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians and other ethnic groups who may be less likely to respond. Census data can affect the annual allocation of more than $185 billion in federal funds, impact decisions made by state, local and tribal governments on new schools, hospitals, roads and community centers, and determine how congressional districts are redrawn. The outreach campaign will underscore benefits of census participation. The outreach campaign is the largest-ever aimed at increasing participation in the national census. It includes partners from nearly 30,000 community groups, civic organizations, labor unions, the Congress, federal agencies and corporations, as well as elected officials at the state, local and tribal-government level. WHO: Secretary of Commerce William M. Daley Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Robert J. Shapiro Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt U.S. Rep. Dan Miller, (Fla.) U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, (N.Y.) Representatives of nearly 30,000 community-based partner organizations nationwide WHERE: Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest (entrance on 14th Street) Washington, D.C. The ballroom is located on the lower level (The building is accessible via Metro Rail's Federal Triangle station) WHEN: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 Schedule of events: 8:30 a.m.: Press setup 9:00 - 9:45 a.m.: Pre-event program 10:00 - 10:45 a.m.: Main event 11:00 - 11:30 a.m.: Media availability Available Media Products and Downlink Information: Video News Release: Slug: Census 2000 Launch 1st Distribution Date: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 Feed Time: 10:00-10:30 AM EDT Feed Coordinates: © Telstar 4/Transponder 23 2nd Distribution Date: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 Feed Time: 2:30-3:00 PM EDT Feed Coordinates: © Telstar 6/Transponder 7 3rd Distribution Date: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 Feed Time: 7:00-7:30 PM EDT Feed Coordinates: © Galaxy 6/Transponder 7 4th Distribution Date: Thursday, October 28, 1999 Feed Time: 1:00-1:30 PM EDT Feed Coordinates: © Telstar 6/Transponder 8 Live Webcast: Date: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 Time: 9:00-11:00 AM EDT URL address: http://www.census.gov (The Webcast will be archived for 90 days, click on NEWS) Dial-In Audio News Releases (Includes Spanish-language audio news releases) Date: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 Telephone: 1-888-784-3322 C E N S U S 2 0 0 0 B U L L E T I N S ***************************************** OCTOBER 27, 1999 Census Outreach Effort Encourages Civic Participation in Census 2000 The Census Bureau today unveiled a nationwide multicultural and multilingual outreach campaign for Census 2000, the largest effort it has ever undertaken to increase participation in a decennial census. "Today's event underscores a broad-based commitment to ensure that Census 2000 is the most accurate, complete and fair count possible," said Commerce Secretary William M. Daley. "Thanks to the efforts of so many civic-minded persons, Census 2000 will truly reflect who we are as a people and build a better tomorrow for this country and all who live here." The outreach campaign's goal is to inform everyone in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands about the importance of Census 2000 and how their community benefits by participating in this civic event. The Census 2000 outreach campaign is an integrated strategy comprising a first-ever paid advertising campaign, Census in Schools (an educational program that targets school children), partnership programs and direct mail, media relations, promotions and special events. The unifying message in the advertising campaign is that accurate census data have the potential to provide tangible benefits to individuals and their communities. The ads use variations on a central tagline: "This is your future. Don't leave it blank." The paid advertising will begin next Monday, Nov. 1 and has three phases: educational, motivational and non-response follow-up. The ads present messages about Census 2000 for the general public, as well as specific messages for African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders and Alaska Natives. The campaign incorporates television, radio, print and outdoor ads in 17 languages, including Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog and Vietnamese. The advertising will be seen on major U.S. television and cable networks, on local television and radio stations and in general-market and ethnic publications. The decision to use paid advertising was prompted by a decline in the number of households that mailed back their census forms in recent censuses. As recently as 1980, only 25 percent of households failed to mail back their forms, but that number is now approaching 40 percent. This means the Census Bureau must undertake the daunting and expensive task of sending hundreds of thousands of enumerators door to door. The ads are designed to motivate people to complete and return their Census 2000 questionnaire when it arrives next March, reducing the cost of follow-up operations. "This is the people's census," said Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt. "We believe everyone counts, and we want this message to reach every person living in the United States, Puerto Rico and the island areas." He added, "We want everyone to know that their answers help form the information used by state, local and tribal governments to decide where to build new schools, hospitals, roads, day- care facilities and job-training centers." Prewitt noted that the federal government will use the same information to allocate annually more than $185 billion dollars in funds each year for a wide range of programs. While the paid advertising is an important element of the Census 2000 outreach strategy, promotion and special events also will help call attention to the census. The Census in Schools program is designed to help students understand the importance and benefits of the census and to encourage parents, through their school-age children, to return their census forms. Under the Census Bureau's Partnership Program, Census 2000 has received an unprecedented level of grassroots support through partnerships with nearly 30,000 state, local and tribal governments; federal agencies; national and community organizations; businesses and corporations and the media. These partners, which include the U.S. Congress, are helping to engage and energize their communities to mail back their census questionnaires. Census 2000 partners also provide locations for the testing and training of census takers, as well as places where people can get help completing their questionnaires or pick up a form if they did not receive one in the mail. Editor's Note: News releases issued by the Census Bureau on Census 2000, as well as found on our Internet homepage at http://www.census.gov. Click on the News button to view news releases, by date and by subject, or for Census 2000 information. The Census Bureau needs the help of local residents to conduct Census 2000. Job opportunities include census taker positions in communities and neighborhoods and office work. A large number of part-time positions are available. For more information on census jobs in your area, call toll-free 1-888-325-7733. The Census Bureau guarantees that the answers given on census forms are kept strictly confidential. Information collected in Census 2000 will provide local area data needed for communities to receive federal program funds and for private sector and community planning.