Census office opens in Springfield

by Karen E. Culp

SBJ Staff

Citizens of Springfield, stand up and be counted. The census is coming to town.

In preparation for Census 2000, a regional office is opening in Springfield Oct. 18 at 132 Park Central Square. Oct. 17, the director of the U.S. Census, Dr. Kenneth Prewitt, will visit Southwest Missouri State University, speaking at 3 p.m. in Plaster Student Union about the effects of the census on communities, businesses and citizens.

"The census determines resource allocation of federal and state funding, but it also determines private sector funds. It is critical that people respond and be counted for the health and welfare of their communities," Prewitt said.

The local census office now has a small staff in place, including its office manager, Adolfo Castillo. The local office will employ up to 100 people by April 2000 and will employ 1,000 in the field. The office serves 19 counties in southwest Missouri.

"This count is vital to these communities in southwest Missouri. This is their future. In addition to public money, the private sector, businesses, look to census data when they are considering a move to an area," Castillo said.

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce uses census data as its primary research data, said Ryan Mooney, program coordinator in economic development for the chamber.

"Accurate count is essential for some communities in order to foster growth there," Mooney said.

Some businesses will only locate in communities of 10,000 or more, for example, so if census numbers show a community at less than that, it may lose industry, Mooney added.

Undercount for the 1990 census was 1.6 percent, Mooney said, which was high enough to make a difference for some communities. That's why it is important for everyone to return the forms and be counted this year, Castillo said.

"We are placing special attention on the rural areas and the hard-to-count population this year to ensure that we get an accurate count," Castillo said.

Prewitt said the census will employ 860,000 people to count the U.S. residents. The census forms are being printed in five languages and, for the first time, forms can be completed on the Internet.

In 1990, 65 percent of forms were returned by April (April 1 is Census Day, the day forms are to be returned), Prewitt said. This year's return rate is expected to be as low as 61 percent, so that means census field enumerators will be working even harder, Prewitt said.

"Our challenge is to go out and find the remaining percentage," Prewitt said.

Factors such as civic indifference and apathy, an increasing immigrant population and a highly mobile population contribute to the number of forms that are not returned, Prewitt said.

This year's forms (some people will complete a short form, some a long form) contain fewer questions than past forms, and this is the first year U.S. residents can specify that they belong to more than one race, Prewitt said.

The local census office will hold an open house 1-3 p.m. Oct. 18.

"The census is part of our constitution