Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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April 29, 2010

Census workers will soon be knocking on local doors

By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph

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PRINCETON – Starting May 1, West Virginia residents who did not fill out and send a U.S. Census Bureau form they received in the mail can soon expect a Non-Response Follow-up (NRFU) from a census taker going door-to-door; meanwhile, the census is still seeking people to do the door-to-door work.

“The Non-Response Follow-Up Operation plays a vital role in helping achieve an accurate 2010 Census count and determine the allocation of federal funds for community services,” said Dwight Dean, director for the Census Bureau’s Detroit Regional Office, which covers West Virginia. “We ask that you cooperate with census takers should they contact you. It’s easy, important and safe. Information collected by census takers cannot be shared with any other government agency; they’ve taken a lifetime oath not to reveal any private data.”

Michael Bsharah, a media specialist with the Census Bureau, told the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that the questions census takers will ask are the same that are on the census form. There will not be a greater number of questions or any new questions that were not on the form.

Census takers also do not ask for Social Security Numbers, Bsharah added.

“It is the least intrusive and shortest census form ever,” he said. “They do not ask for Social Security Numbers, financial or banking information of any kind.”

People who wish to see the questions again can find them at the U.S. Census website www.census2010.gov, Bsharah said.

In most cases, census workers will make initial visits during afternoons, early evenings and weekends. Workers will identify themselves with a census ID badge that contains a Department of Commerce watermark. The worker may also be carrying a bag with the Census Bureau logo. If asked, he or she will provide supervisor contact information and/or the Local Census Office phone number for verification. If census workers are unable to reach a household member in person, they will also attempt contact by phone to conduct the interview with the household member.

Some residents in Southern West Virginia did not receive census forms in the mail. In one instance, McDowell County residents did not get a form due to a miscommunication.

“The problem was that the 911 Center did a great job of remapping and readdressing the county,” said County Administrator Clif Moore. “However, there were some miscommunications between them and the census. As a result, people were getting them mailed to wrong addresses or they were not being sent at all and coming back to the census people.”

Moore said that after speaking with census officials in Beckley and Washington, D.C., the county was assured that people who did not census forms in a timely manner would receive them. Residents can call the census at 304-207-9383, the central office in Beckley.

Meanwhile, the census is still seeking census takers. Residents in Mercer, McDowell, Summers, Wyoming, Fayette, Mingo, Pocahontas, Logan, Wayne, Tyler, Braxton and Lincoln counties who are interested in applying can call 304-207-9370 or 304-348-6730.

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