The Norman Transcript
Norman — Census workers will travel the rural areas of the state over the next two weeks handing out U.S. Census forms.
The rural effort to get the count right in 2010 is a prelude to the March 15 postal delivery of census forms. April 1 has been designated National Census Day as a reminder to households to return their forms.
Those rural residents are mostly folks who get their mail at a post office box or general delivery location. Communities all across the state are gearing up. Norman’s mayor has appointed a census counts committee in hopes of ensuring all of our residents get counted this time around.
That committee is gearing up to publicize its efforts. It wants residents to return their forms to eliminate the need to send a census worker out in the field to survey the household and submit the data.
It may seem like a waste of time but the information provided to the Census gives us a snapshot of our community. The specific information is kept confidential but the trends and issues identified often make for policy changes that impact us all.
Census data is also used to help figure how much federal aid to fairly and efficiently return to cities and states. That can’t happen if we don’t count everyone.
