Transcript
ANDREW REAMER: Good morning. On behalf of the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, The Population Resource Center, and The Census Project, I welcome you to this briefing on the 2010 Census: What State, Local, and Tribal Governments Need to Know.
The aim of the Metropolitan Policy Program is to help America's communities grow in more inclusive, competitive, and sustainable ways. To achieve these goals, we need the data that tell us who lives in our communities, how well our communities are doing, and the needs and the opportunities for public and private investment. To this end, I run the federal data project, which seeks greater availability and accessibility of current, accurate federal statistics on local areas.
The single most important federal statistical endeavor is the 2010 Census. Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution mandates the enumeration of the entire population of the U.S., covering every single household and group quarters.
While the census originally was created for purposes of apportionment and the distribution of Electoral College votes, it now has many additional uses important to states and localities. These uses include redistricting, the distribution of over $300 billion annually in federal funds, the distribution of state funds, the investment decisions by governments—such as for schools, roads, and health care—and by businesses, for retail stores, for example.
Clearly then, an inaccurate count has significant consequences for states and localities. Obtaining an accurate count requires that the Census Bureau identify every household and group quarters in the nation, get a questionnaire to them, and receive the correct information back. This is no small challenge.
The purpose of today's briefing is to provide the information that states and localities need to ensure their respective areas are counted accurately. The count takes place three years from next week. This may seem a long time away, but, as you will see, it is not. There's a tight schedule that gets us from here to there, with clearly defined windows of opportunity for locals and states to work with the Census Bureau. When these windows close, they're difficult, if not impossible, to open again.