Counting (On) You - Part III: Counting Every Person in Addison, TX in the 2010 Census

Counting (On) You - Part III - Counting Every Person in Addison, TX in the 2010 Census.

You count!  Before April 1, 2010, make sure you are counted!

Part I covered the requirement of conducting the 2010 Census and the formation of the Addison, Texas Complete Count Committee.

Part II discussed the 5 key steps to counting everyone in the U.S.

In this, Part III,  let's look what the Addison Complete Count Committee is doing and why, to make sure that Addison is accurately counted so that it gets its fair share of the $400 billion allocation of federal funds to communities.

Addison has been deemed to be a "hard to count" community because 10 years ago for the 2000 Census, Addison had a return mail-in rate of only 43%.  Of the 15,000 or so households in Addison, about 20% are single family homes and 80% are apartments.  The Addison COmplete Count Committee's goal is to to drastically improve the mail-in rate so that fewer Census Bureau employees will have to go door to door to collect the count.

The activities are divided into 4 categories - community, business, media,  and government.

Community:

• Our first project was to get a flyer about the census inserted into the bags with the 2010 Addison calendars that were delivered to every home, condo, townhouse, apartment and business in Addison in December, 2009.
• Addison apartment managers were asked to place census collection information on the door of each resident.
• Addison Complete Count Committee members will walk the neighborhoods with volunteers.
• All Addison HOAs are being asked to provide information about the census in their newsletters or on their websites.
• The Addison Pacesetters will learn about the census effort at the March event at Dunn Bros. Coffee House.
• Giveaways, such as census coffee mugs, will be distributed at the Addison Athletic Club.

Business:

• Committee members will make brief presentations at the Addison Morning Rotary, Addison Middway Rotary, and Prestonwood Rotary meetings, at a Metrocerest Chamber of Commerce meeting, and at an Addison Business Association meeting.
• Addison restaurants are being asked to post Census flyers in the kitchen areas.

Media:

• Information will appear in the next issue of the Accolade, a publication for members of the Addison Athletic Club.  The club is open to anyone living in Addision for a one-time $10 fee for as long as you live in Addison.
• The Addison city manager, Ron Whitehead, publishes a weekly online newsletter and information about the census will appear in it.
• Social media has not been neglected!  Posts about the census on twitter, facebook and even on ActiveRain are being made. If you are reading this, we're doing our job!

Government:

• If you receive an Addison water bill, you will receive census information with the bill.
• Posters will be hung in the Addison Courts building, in the Addison post office, in the Addison police and fire department buildings, and in the Addison Athletic Club.
• There is a link on the Addison website.

If you can think of another way we can reach out to Addison citizens to encourage them to return the 2010 Census on or before April 1st, please let us know!  We don't want Addison to be considered "hard to count" for the next 10 years.