Mayor Nickels announces partnership for 2010 Census
Goal is to help ensure complete and accurate count in Seattle
SEATTLE - Mayor Greg Nickels today announced a partnership with the U.S. Census
Bureau and the Seattle 2010 Complete Count Committee headed by former Mayor Norm
Rice, former City Councilmember Martha Choe, and Rogelio Riojas, president of Sea
Mar Community Health Centers, to help ensure a full and accurate count in the 2010
Census.
“It’s extremely important that everyone in our city is counted,” said Mayor Nickels.
“Seattle’s Complete Count Committee will work with our community to raise awareness
and understanding of the Census and to make sure traditionally undercounted populations
are represented.”
Beginning early next year, the U.S. Census Bureau will conduct the 2010 Census, which
is mandated by the U.S. Constitution and conducted every 10 years. The Census count is
used for a variety of reasons, including determining representation in Congress and how
more than $300 billion in funding is allocated annually through more than 50 federal
programs to state, local and tribal governments.
Census questionnaires will be mailed out in mid-March 2010 and will be due on April 1,
2010, which is termed “Census Day.” A second questionnaire will be issued for people
who do not respond by the end of April. The Census Bureau will conduct in-person
followup for non-responders from May to July 2010.
“We’re pleased that the city of Seattle has assembled one of the country’s largest and
most diverse Complete Count Committees. The 2010 Census is the largest peacetime
mobilization in U.S. history. As such, we simply can’t do it alone. We must rely heavily
on community partners,” said Ralph Lee, director of the Seattle Regional Census Center,
which covers a five-state area.
By law, more than 170 federal programs must distribute their funding according to
Census counts. Census funding is used for highways, bridges, schools, hospitals,
economic development, job training, and social programs such as Medicaid and Head
Start - $300 billion per year.
Undercounting Issue
An increasingly diverse population in the United States has resulted in undercounting of
certain populations in Seattle and other U.S. cities. In the 1990 Census, it was estimated
that, in Seattle, 11,800 people (2.3 percent of the population) were not counted. Seattlespecific
figures for the 2000 Census are not available, but in a 2001 U.S. Census
Monitoring Board report, it was estimated that in King County, 20,068 people (1.14
percent of the county’s population) were not counted. If you assume that same percentage
for Seattle, an estimated 7,000 Seattle residents were not counted.
The majority of those undercounted were people of color, immigrants and refugees, the
homeless, and low-income (King County undercount rates in the 2000 Census were:
White-Non-Hispanic (0.96 percent), White-Hispanic (4.57 percent), Black/African-
American (8.22 percent), Native American (2.52 percent); Asian/Pacific Islander (2.11
percent). This resulted in Seattle not receiving a significant amount of formula-based
federal funding through programs for educational agencies, public transportation, road
construction/rehabilitation, programs for the elderly, early childhood education and
nutrition programs, and others.
Complete Count Committee
The city of Seattle, in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau and local businesses and
organizations (community-based organizations, faith-based groups, schools, businesses,
the media and others) has created the 2010 Seattle Complete Count Committee. The
Committee will develop an awareness/outreach campaign to ensure that all of Seattle’s
diverse populations participate in the 2010 Census. The committee is headed up by cochairs:
- Norman B. Rice, former mayor of Seattle/current president of The Seattle
Foundation
- Martha Choe, former Seattle City Councilmember/current chief administrative
officer, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Rogelio Riojas, founder/president/CEO, SeaMar Community Health Clinics
For more information, please contact Kenny Pittman, city of Seattle, at 206-684-8364 or
kenny.pittman@seattle.gov.
Get the Nickels Newsletter and the mayor’s inside view on transportation, public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities. Sign up at mayor.seattle.gov.
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Office of the Mayor
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