Published: August 30, 2009 06:56 pm      

Census committee formed

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — A kickoff for the Census Complete Count Committee will be held Sept. 4.

“During the last census, there were places in the county that weren’t counted,” said Brandon Bullard, committee chairman. “We now know how much that can mean to a community. This committee is a partnership to make sure we have an accurate count and those areas that were missed last time are counted.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, census data is used to allocate billions of dollars in government funding and helps determine where roads will be built, schools and job centers. State and federal grants rely on the census numbers with allocations of funds, and census data is used to determine how many seats each state will get in Congress as well as impact redistricting of state and local districts.

Bonnie Jerdon, who has been working with the Census Bureau through her position with the city, has said the Census Bureau provided the city with a map which indicated the under-reported areas from the last census. The map showed the downtown area of Mt. Vernon from Harrison to Veterans Memorial Drive and from First Street to 21st Street as under-reported and inaccurate. Bullard said the other major area in the county that was under-reported during the 2000 Census was the Dix area, which is why the partnership group is being dubbed the Mt. Vernon and Dix Census Complete County Committee.

“We need volunteers from all jobs and career areas in the county to assist in getting a complete count in all areas,” Bullard said. “We need to educate people on what it means to every citizen so we can get a better count. We don’t want to miss out on opportunities.”

Some members of the committee already chosen include Bullard, Cindy Bevis, Tona Cooley, Kevin Settle, Odie Farris, Myrtle DeLoach and Betty Barker.

“We need more people involved,” Bullard said. “The more people that are interested, the better for all of us.”

The kickoff meeting is open to any interested in learning more about Census 2010 any who would like to volunteer in the effort. It will be held from noon to 1 p.m. at the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce office, located in the Municipal Building West at 200 Potomac Blvd. Additional information is available by contacting Bullard at 242-5725.