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Testimony: 

Before the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National 
Archives, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of 
Representatives: 

United States Government Accountability Office: 
GAO: 

For Release on Delivery: 
Expected at 10:00 a.m. EDT:
Monday, March 23, 2009: 

2010 Census: 

Communications Campaign Has Potential to Boost Participation: 

Statement of Robert Goldenkoff: 
Director, Strategic Issues: 

GAO-09-525T: 

GAO Highlights: 

Highlights of GAO-09-525T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on 
Information Policy, Census, and National Archives, Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives. 

Why GAO Did This Study: 

A complete and accurate census is becoming an increasingly daunting 
task, in part because the nation’s population is growing larger, more 
diverse, and more reluctant to participate, according to the U.S. 
Census Bureau (Bureau). When the census misses a person who should have 
been included, it results in an undercount, and the differential impact 
on various subpopulations, such as minorities, is particularly 
problematic. 

This testimony provides an update on the Bureau’s readiness to 
implement its Integrated Communications Campaign, one of several 
efforts aimed at reducing the undercount. GAO focused on the campaign’s 
key components: partnerships with local and national organizations, 
paid advertising and public relations, and Census in Schools (designed 
to reach parents and guardians through their school-age children). GAO 
also discusses the extent to which the rollout of the campaign is 
consistent with factors important for greater accountability and 
successful results. This testimony is based on previously issued work, 
ongoing reviews of relevant documents, and interviews with key Bureau 
officials. 

What GAO Found: 

The Bureau has made notable progress in rolling out key components of 
its communications campaign; if implemented as planned, the campaign 
will help position the Bureau to address the undercount. For example, 
to help promote the census and convince individuals—especially hard-to-
count groups—to respond, the Bureau plans to partner with state, local, 
and tribal governments; religious, community, and social service 
organizations; and private businesses to secure a more complete count. 
According to the Bureau, it has thus far secured partnership agreements 
with more than 10,000 organizations for 2010. The Bureau intends to 
focus its efforts on hard-to-count communities using data from the 2000 
Census, and additional funding made available from the recently enacted 
economic recovery legislation will enable the Bureau to greatly expand 
staffing for the partnership program. Future success will depend in 
part on how well the Bureau communicates with partners and incorporates 
other best practices from 2000, as well as on how well it monitors the 
progress of the partnership efforts and whether it uses results-
oriented measures so as to deploy resources as needed. 

The Bureau updated its paid media and public relations strategy from 
2000 to meet a changing media environment and plans to focus its 
efforts on hard-to-count populations. In addition to traditional 
outlets such as television and radio, the Bureau also intends to employ 
on line media, such as podcasts and blogs. Currently, the Bureau plans 
to devote 55 percent of its advertising resources to national media, 
which provides the broadest reach, and 45 percent to local media, which 
better targets specific hard-to-count communities. The Bureau has also 
completed research on factors affecting census participation, which 
could help the Bureau address the long-standing issue of converting 
awareness of the census into actual participation. The Census in 
Schools program is also moving forward. Like the other components of 
the communications campaign, the Bureau plans to target its efforts to 
those schools where data from the 2000 Census suggest that the program 
will have the most impact: school districts in hard-to-count 
communities and kindergarten through 8th grade. 

In general, the design of the Bureau’s communications campaign appears 
to be comprehensive, integrated, shaped by the Bureau’s experience in 
the 2000 Census, and targeted to hard-to-count populations. The 
programs GAO reviewed are in the planning or early implementation 
phases, and future success will depend on how well the Bureau moves 
from the design to operational phases. Further, while the extra money 
the Bureau received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 
2009 will help augment its outreach efforts, it does not necessarily 
follow that additional activity will yield higher response rates. 
Therefore, consistent with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 
the Bureau will need to identify, among other things, (1) cost 
estimates of the activities being funded, (2) the objectives and 
outcome-related goals of the planned spending, and (3) how the spending 
will help achieve those goals. 

What GAO Recommends: 

GAO made several prior recommendations in its earlier review of the 
Bureau’s partnership program, all of which were implemented. At this 
time, GAO is not making any new recommendations. 

View [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-525T] or key 
components. For more information, contact Robert N. Goldenkoff at (202) 
512-2757 or goldenkoffr@gao.gov. 

[End of section] 

Mr. Chairman, and Members of the Subcommittee: 

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today to discuss the U.S. 
Census Bureau's (Bureau) efforts to improve participation and reduce 
the undercount in the next national headcount. As you know, the census 
is mandated by the U.S. Constitution and provides data that are vital 
to the nation. These data are used, for example, to apportion and 
redistrict the seats of the U.S. House of Representatives, realign the 
boundaries of the legislative districts of each state, and allocate 
federal financial assistance. 

Counting everyone in a country as large and diverse as the United 
States is a significant challenge, in part because people are becoming 
increasingly difficult to find and reluctant to respond to the census. 
When the census misses a person who should have been included, it 
results in an undercount; an overcount occurs when an individual is 
counted in error. Such errors are particularly problematic because of 
their differential impact on various subgroups. Minorities, renters, 
and children, for example, are more likely to be undercounted by the 
census while more affluent groups, such as people with vacation homes, 
are more likely to be enumerated more than once. 

To help reduce the undercount for the 2010 Census, the Bureau developed 
the Integrated Communications Campaign aimed at hard-to-count 
populations. Its components include partnerships with government, 
private sector, social service, and other organizations; paid 
advertising; public relations; and Census in Schools (a program 
designed to reach parents and guardians through their school-age 
children). Funding for the communications campaign received a 
substantial boost under the recently enacted economic stimulus 
legislation.[Footnote 1] The conference report[Footnote 2] accompanying 
this legislation provided "up to $250,000,000 shall be for partnership 
and outreach efforts to minority communities and hard-to-reach 
populations," a 61 percent increase over the $410 million the Bureau 
had originally budgeted for its communications effort. 

Importantly, the communications campaign is just one example of the 
tremendous effort the Bureau puts forth to improve participation and 
help reduce the undercount. Other activities include building a 
complete and accurate address list, using special enumeration programs, 
and offering language assistance guides in 59 languages. 

Although the Bureau has made considerable progress in gearing up its 
communications campaign for the 2010 Census, encouraging traditionally 
hard-to-count populations, such as minorities, renters, and 
linguistically isolated households, will be difficult. Besides such 
long-standing challenges as the nation's cultural diversity, the Bureau 
also faces newly emerging issues, such as local anti-illegal 
immigration campaigns and a post-September 11 environment that could 
heighten some groups' fears of government agencies. At the same time, 
the Bureau's communications campaign must not only raise public 
awareness of the census, it must also motivate people to respond--a far 
thornier task. 

At your request, this statement focuses on the Bureau's readiness to 
reduce the undercount through its Integrated Communications Campaign, 
paying particular attention to the partnership, paid advertising and 
public relations, and Census in Schools programs. We will also discuss 
the extent to which the rollout of the campaign is consistent with 
various factors that we believe will result in greater accountability 
and more successful results. These factors include the extent to which 
the various components of the communications campaign (1) were informed 
by lessons learned from the 2000 Census and other evaluations, (2) are 
implemented on schedule, (3) receive appropriate funding and staffing, 
and (4) are targeted to where they are most needed. Likewise, it will 
be important for the Bureau to have the ability to monitor response 
rates and other developments at the national and local levels, and to 
quickly deploy components of the campaign as needed to address 
contingencies that could undermine the completeness and accuracy of the 
count. 

My testimony today is based on our ongoing and recently completed work 
(please see the Related GAO Products section at the end of this 
statement for a list of products we have issued on the Bureau's efforts 
to reach hard-to-enumerate populations).[Footnote 3] To review the 
readiness of the Bureau's communications campaign, we analyzed 
planning, funding, and progress reports. We also interviewed Bureau 
officials responsible for designing and implementing the communications 
program. This work was conducted in accordance with generally accepted 
government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and 
perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide 
a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit 
objectives. We believe that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable 
basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. 

In summary, the Bureau has made notable progress in rolling out key 
components of its communications campaign, and if implemented as 
planned, it will help position the Bureau to address the undercount. 
For example, the Bureau's plans reflect some key lessons learned from 
the 2000 Census, and the economic stimulus package makes more money 
available to the Bureau than what it had originally planned to spend. 

The programs we reviewed are mainly in the planning or early 
implementation stages; therefore, moving forward, it will be important 
for the Bureau and Congress to continue to monitor the campaign's 
rollout to ensure that it proceeds as planned. Further, while the extra 
funds available to the Bureau under the economic stimulus legislation 
will help the Bureau expand its outreach efforts, it does not 
necessarily follow that increased funding will affect response 
behavior. As a result, and consistent with the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009, it will be important for the Bureau to 
develop a spending plan for the money, identifying, among other things, 
(1) cost estimates of the activities being funded, (2) the objectives 
and outcome-related goals of the planned spending, and (3) how the 
spending will effectively achieve those goals. 

Background: 

Although the Bureau goes to great lengths to conduct an accurate count, 
some degree of coverage error in the form of persons missed or counted 
more than once is inevitable. Historically, undercounts have plagued 
the census, although Bureau efforts to evaluate count accuracy have 
indicated that undercounts have generally diminished since 1940. For 
the 2000 Census, for the first time in its history, the Bureau reported 
a slight net overcount of approximately 0.5 percent or about 1.3 
million people. However, as shown in figure 1, coverage errors are not 
always evenly distributed through the population. For example, the 
Bureau reported an overcount of non-Hispanic Whites, and an undercount 
of non-Hispanic Blacks. Figure 1 also shows how the Bureau made strides 
in reducing the undercount in the 2000 Census compared to 1990. 

Figure 1: Comparison of Percent Net Undercounts, 1990 and 2000 
Censuses: 

[Refer to PDF for image: horizontal bar graph] 

Race/Hispanic origin: American Indian/Alaska Native off reservations; 
Percent net overcount/undercount 1990 Census: [Empty]; 
Percent net overcount/undercount, 2000 Census: 0.62% undercount. 

Race/Hispanic origin: American Indian/Alaska Native on reservations; 
Percent net overcount/undercount 1990 Census: 12.22% undercount; 
Percent net overcount/undercount, 2000 Census: -0.88% overcount. 

Race/Hispanic origin: Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; 
Percent net overcount/undercount 1990 Census: [Empty]; 
Percent net overcount/undercount, 2000 Census: 2.12% undercount. 

Race/Hispanic origin: Asian (non-Hispanic); 
Percent net overcount/undercount 1990 Census: 2.36% undercount; 
Percent net overcount/undercount, 2000 Census: -0.75% overcount. 

Race/Hispanic origin: Hispanic origin; 
Percent net overcount/undercount 1990 Census: 4.99% undercount; 
Percent net overcount/undercount, 2000 Census: 0.71% undercount. 

Race/Hispanic origin: Black (non-Hispanic); 
Percent net overcount/undercount 1990 Census: 4.57% undercount; 
Percent net overcount/undercount, 2000 Census: 1.84% undercount. 

Race/Hispanic origin: White (non-Hispanic); 
Percent net overcount/undercount 1990 Census: 0.68% undercount; 
Percent net overcount/undercount, 2000 Census: -1.13% overcount. 

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. 

Notes: A negative number indicates an overcount. In 1990, Asian (Non- 
Hispanic) included Pacific Islanders. 

[End of figure] 

Participation in the census, as measured by the mail return rate, also 
affects the accuracy of census data. The Bureau calculates mail return 
rates as the percentage of questionnaires the Bureau receives from 
occupied housing units in the mail-back universe.[Footnote 4] Although 
the Bureau attempts to count individuals who fail to mail back their 
census forms during a subsequent operation called nonresponse follow- 
up, high mail return rates are critical to quality data. A Bureau 
evaluation of the 2000 Census found that questionnaires returned by 
mail tend to be more accurate than those obtained during nonresponse 
follow-up. Higher mail return rates also help save considerable 
taxpayer dollars, since a questionnaire returned by mail obviates the 
need for enumerators to make costly in-person visits to households to 
collect information. 

The Bureau designed its Integrated Communications Campaign to help 
increase census participation. The campaign's objectives are to raise 
the mail response rate, reduce the workload in follow-up operations, 
and improve cooperation with enumerators. Combined these efforts could 
help reduce the undercount and thus enhance the overall accuracy of the 
census. 

In September 2007, the Bureau awarded its communications contract to 
DraftFCB, a communications firm that will orchestrate its key 
components. The campaign includes the following milestones (see table 
1). 

Table 1: Timeline of Selected Key Communications Campaign Events: 

Date: May 2008; 
Decennial activity: Bureau hired first 120 partnership staff. 

Date: December 2008; 
Decennial activity: DraftFCB delivers final communications plan. 

Date: March 2009; 
Decennial activity: National partners briefing. 

Date: June 2009; 
Decennial activity: Census in Schools materials available 
(print/online); Additional partnership staff (funded by American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) to be hired. 

Date: January 2010; 
Decennial activity: Paid media campaign is launched. 

Source: GAO analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. 

[End of table] 

DraftFCB delivered its final communications plan, which includes a 
specific focus on undercounted populations, in December 2008. As one 
example, the contractor worked with the Bureau to segment the 
population into distinct groups or "clusters" using socioeconomic, 
demographic, and other data from the 2000 Census that are correlated 
with a person's likelihood to participate in the census. Each cluster 
was given a hard-to-count score, and the Bureau's communications 
efforts are to be targeted to those clusters with the highest scores. 
The four clusters with the highest hard-to-count scores made up 14 
percent of the nation's occupied housing units based on data from the 
2000 Census, and included the following demographic characteristics: 
renters, immigrants, non-English speakers, persons without higher 
education, persons receiving public assistance, and persons who are 
unemployed. 

The campaign strategy will be based on the theme "It's in Our Hands" 
and will target the clusters mentioned above. According to the Bureau, 
this approach reflects a marketplace trend where communications are 
becoming more two-way or participatory, and can be seen, for example, 
in people creating their own content on the World Wide Web. The goal of 
the strategy is to encourage personal ownership and involvement that 
spreads the word about the census. Further, the generic theme will be 
tailored to specific groups. For example, outreach targeted to families 
might carry the message, "The education of our children. It's in our 
hands," while the economically disadvantaged might receive, "The power 
to matter. It's in our hands." 

Although the effects of the Bureau's communication efforts are 
difficult to measure, the Bureau reported some positive results from 
its 2000 Census marketing efforts with respect to raising awareness of 
the census. For example, four population groups--non-Hispanic Blacks, 
non-Hispanic Whites, Asians, and Native Hawaiians--indicated that they 
were more likely to return the census form after the 2000 Census 
partnership and marketing program than before its onset. However, a 
Bureau evaluation demonstrated a limited linkage between the 
partnership and marketing efforts and improvements in actual census 
mail return behavior for these or other groups. Put another way, while 
the Bureau's marketing activities might raise awareness of the census, 
a remaining challenge is motivating a specific behavior, namely 
completing and returning a census questionnaire. 

Key Practices Are Helping to Enhance the Effectiveness of the 
Partnership Program: 

To help promote the census and convince people to respond, the Bureau 
plans to partner with state, local, and tribal governments; religious, 
community, and social service organizations; and private businesses. 
The program stems from the Bureau's recognition that "trusted voices" 
representing organizations with high credibility in a particular 
community could help convince otherwise reluctant individuals to 
participate in the census. According to the Bureau, it partnered with 
around 140,000 organizations during the 2000 Census. 

The program will be implemented largely by partnership specialists who 
are to reach out to key government and community leaders and gain their 
commitment to support the census. Other partnership staff include 
graphic designers, media specialists, and clerical employees. The 
Bureau had initially planned to hire 680 partnership staff for the 2010 
Census, and achieved that level in January 2009. However, the American 
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided additional funding that 
allowed for the Bureau to hire around 2,000 additional partnership 
staff, and the Bureau plans to ramp up to this new level by June 2009. 
By comparison, for the 2000 Census, the Bureau hired around 600 
partnership staff. The additional staffing levels will help the Bureau 
better support the partners' efforts, and help address concerns 
expressed by some local census office managers following the 2000 
Census that the partnership specialists were spread too thin. 

According to the Bureau, it will allocate the partnership staff among 
and within the Bureau's 12 regions using a formula that incorporates 
the hard-to-count score, as well as other data, including population 
size, geographic information, language needs, and local knowledge. 
Officials emphasized that they are using census data to focus resources 
on hard-to-count populations. 

In our previous work, we highlighted best practices for both the Bureau 
and partners that appeared to be key to successful engagements. In 
addition to these best practices we also included several 
recommendations aimed at making the partnership program more 
accountable and performance-oriented--all of which the Bureau 
implemented.[Footnote 5] Best practices for partners outlined in our 
previous work include (1) identifying "census champions" or advocates 
who will actively support the census and encourage others to do so, (2) 
integrating census-related efforts into partners' existing activities 
and events, and (3) leveraging resources by working with other partners 
and customizing census promotional materials to better resonate with 
local populations. Best practices for the Bureau include (1) providing 
adequate and timely information, guidance, and other resources to local 
partners on how they can support the census; (2) maintaining open 
communication with partners; and (3) encouraging the early involvement 
of partners in census activities. 

While it is premature to obtain a complete picture of how our best 
practices have been used thus far, to date it appears that the Bureau 
has incorporated some of the best practices we identified in the design 
and early implementation of the 2010 program. For example, with respect 
to obtaining early involvement of partners, the Bureau hired a core of 
120 partnership staff in mid-2008 who, among other activities, secured 
early commitments with state, local, and tribal governments; as well as 
with various community organizations. The Bureau reports that it has 
obtained partnership agreements with over 10,000 organizations as of 
February 2009. 

Moreover, as noted above, according to the Bureau, the full complement 
of 2,680 partnership staff should be aboard by June 2009. By 
comparison, for the 2000 Census, the full complement of partnership 
staff--around a third of the roughly 600 hired--did not come aboard 
until fiscal year 2000, with just a few months remaining until census 
day. The near quadrupling of the planned size of the partnership staff 
could help the Bureau expand its outreach efforts. However, it will be 
important for the Bureau to have in place the appropriate management 
infrastructure to hire, train, organize, deploy, and supervise the 
additional personnel, as well as to ensure that guidance, information, 
and other material provided to partners are communicated in a clear and 
coordinated manner. 

In addition to the paper-based promotional materials that will be 
available for use by all partners through Bureau staff, the Bureau 
plans to use the Internet to better communicate with partners and 
disseminate material and information. The Bureau expects this to be a 
significant enhancement and far more efficient than the strategy 
employed in 2000, which relied solely on paper-based mailings and hand- 
delivery of materials. For example, the Bureau plans to mass e-mail 
newsletters and other information to partners, and has set up a 
"partnership and communications area" on its Web site. Partners can use 
this portal to receive updates and the latest program information. 
Likewise, Bureau staff can use the Internet to contact and provide 
newsletters, promotional materials and other forms of information to 
national organizations directly rather than through a contractor as was 
done in 2000. The Bureau expects that national organizations will in 
turn share the information and materials with their local affiliates. 

At the same time, if the Bureau shifts too much responsibility for 
sharing and reproducing materials to its partners, the partners could 
see it as a burden akin to an unfunded mandate. Indeed, local groups 
may not have the budget, staff, or time to execute the Bureau's 
partnership efforts. The Bureau received this type of feedback from 
small rural counties following the 2000 Census. 

Importantly, the Bureau will need timely information to track and 
monitor progress of partnership activities. For 2010, the Bureau 
introduced a new system, the Integrated Partner Contact Database to 
track and monitor activities of partner organizations. The database 
became available in January 2009 and, according to the Bureau, includes 
real-time information on the number of partner organizations, 
populations served, demographics, value added contributions, and 
constituent reach. The Bureau believes this will enable it to evaluate 
the partnerships in real time and redirect or reallocate staff as 
needed. Bureau officials have noted that the 2010 partnership tracking 
system is an improvement over the 2000 system, which was cumbersome and 
not user-friendly. 

That said, as the Bureau monitors the progress of the partnership 
efforts, it will be important for the Bureau to develop specific 
performance metrics linked to the goals of the partnership program and 
the census itself. In contrast, according to a former senior Bureau 
official who was responsible for the 2000 partnership program, success 
was based more on the number of partnership agreements secured rather 
than the quality of work the partners performed. 

The Bureau Updated Its Paid Media and Public Relations Strategy to Meet 
a Changing Media Environment: 

The Bureau will use numerous paid media sources, such as TV, radio, the 
Internet, and magazines, to reach individuals from all clusters and 
ethnic audiences. The Bureau plans to devote 55 percent of its 
advertising resources to national media, which provide the broadest 
reach, and 45 percent to local media, which better target specific hard-
to-count communities. The role of the public relations effort, which is 
to include news releases, media briefings, special events, podcasts, 
and blogs, is to support all aspects of the census. 

Bureau officials indicated that technological changes and society's 
evolving media habits prompted the Bureau to update media strategies 
employed in 2000 so as to be effective for 2010. For example, there is 
far greater access to the Internet, social networks, blogs, satellite 
radio, podcasts and Web-enabled phones than in 2000; some of these did 
not exist at all. The Bureau believes these new forms of digital media 
represent new ways to educate the public about the census. Last fall, 
the Bureau completed market research to gain an understanding of 
people's feelings about the census and the factors that inspire or 
hinder participation. According to the Bureau, the research will help 
it determine which communication medium works best for different ethnic 
groups. 

The Bureau will also retain greater control of its paid advertisements 
so that they can be shared with other organizations. In 2000, a number 
of entities, such as state and local governments and private 
organizations, wanted to use census ads but were unable to because the 
Bureau only retained limited use of its licensed advertising content. 
As a result, ads with similar content had to be purchased by partners 
for their use. 

Additionally, the Bureau plans to create some of its informational 
material, including posters, flyers, and brochures, as electronic 
templates. This will enable the Bureau's 12 regional offices to easily 
change out photos and languages that better suit a particular area. 
Partnership materials are to be available in 19 languages and 
advertising materials are to be available in 14 languages. 

One of the Bureau's recent challenges is getting promotional materials 
developed and distributed to regions. The Bureau has experienced delays 
in procurements for its promotional items because it is encountering 
difficulty in identifying small and minority-owned businesses that have 
the capacity to produce large quantities of printed materials. The 
Bureau is revising its plans and noted that the delays have not 
significantly affected its ability to deliver promotional materials to 
regional staff. 

Census in Schools Program Will Be Targeted toward Younger Students: 

The goal of the Census in Schools program is to improve participation 
in the census by giving the schools lesson plans and teaching materials 
to support existing curricula so that (1) the students can be 
introduced to the purpose and importance of the census, and (2) the 
students will take home information about the census. The Bureau 
believes that weaving information about the census as well as census 
data into lesson plans helps get the message home to parents and 
guardians that answering the census is important and confidential. 

For the 2010 Census, the Bureau plans to reduce the Census in Schools 
budget because they believe they can leverage materials developed in 
2000 and better target its efforts to students. In 2000, the Census in 
Schools budget was $17 million, and for 2010, the Bureau plans to spend 
$11.3 million. According to Bureau officials, the reduced funding will 
not significantly affect the program since the Bureau will use 
previously developed materials thereby saving on development costs and 
making more of the materials available electronically through the 
Bureau's Web site rather than providing printed copies. Similar to what 
was noted earlier, however, the level of resources schools may need to 
disseminate material is not clear, and it will be important that the 
schools do not perceive this approach as an economic burden. 

For 2010, the Bureau has contracted with Scholastic Publishing to 
develop lesson plans for schools nationwide. According to Bureau 
officials some stakeholders have expressed concern because the program 
is not as extensive as it was in 2000. However, the Bureau reduced the 
goal of the number of participating schools based on its conclusion 
following the 2000 census that the program is most effective and 
receives the greatest return on investment in hard-to-count areas and 
with younger grades (kindergarten through 8th). 

Stimulus Funds Provide Additional Money for Outreach to Hard-to-Count 
Populations, but Planning Is Not Yet Complete: 

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided $1 billion 
in funding for the 2010 Decennial Census. The conference report 
accompanying this legislation, directed the Bureau to spend up to $250 
million for the partnership program and outreach to "minority 
communities and hard-to-reach populations." As noted above, the Bureau 
has said that it will use the stimulus funds to recruit as many as 
2,000 additional partnership staff this year (costing around $120 
million) and expand advertising, especially in areas with historically 
low mail response rates (costing around $100 million). The Bureau is 
making plans for how to allocate the remaining funding. 

To date, a fraction of the money for the communications campaign has 
been obligated; as of February 28, 2009, the Bureau reported obligating 
$48 million out of the $216 million to be spent for this campaign. 
[Footnote 6] According to Bureau officials, the funds have been 
obligated for a variety of communications activities, including 
research initiatives such as the Census Barriers, Attitudes and 
Motivator Surveys; promotional materials for partnership specialists 
and regions; and Census in Schools. 

Concluding Observations: 

The design of the Bureau's communications campaign appears to be 
comprehensive and integrated. Further, the Bureau generally appears to 
be addressing some of the factors that will be important for success, 
including (1) incorporating lessons learned from 2000 and (2) targeting 
resources to where they are most needed. The Bureau also plans to track 
response rates in 2010 and quickly deploy resources to those areas in 
need of a boost. If each of the various components of the 
communications campaign is implemented as planned, they will help 
position the Bureau to improve participation in the census and address 
the differential undercount. 

Importantly, however, the various programs we examined are generally in 
the planning or early implementation stages. While the communications 
campaign has made important steps forward, considerable work lies ahead 
in moving from the planning to the operational phases. Further, while 
money from the economic stimulus package could help augment marketing 
of the census, less clear is the extent to which these additional funds 
will improve response behavior or which component of the campaign will 
yield the best results. 

Moving forward, to help ensure a more accountable and results-oriented 
communications campaign, it will be important for the Bureau to 
continue to apply lessons learned from the 2000 Census to the 
implementation of the 2010 communications effort, as well as develop 
and meet specific performance goals. Moreover, consistent with the 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, it will be important for the 
Bureau to first develop a spending plan for the money it receives under 
the act, identifying, among other things, (1) cost estimates of the 
activities being funded, (2) the objectives and outcome-related goals 
of the planned spending, and (3) how the spending will help achieve 
those goals. 

As always, we will continue to track the implementation of the Bureau's 
communications campaign as well as other key census-taking operations 
on behalf of Congress, and provide Congress with regular updates. 

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, this concludes my 
prepared statement. I would be happy to respond to any questions you 
may have. 

Contacts and Acknowledgements: 

If you have any questions on matters discussed in this testimony, 
please contact Robert Goldenkoff at (202) 512-2757 or at 
goldenkoffr@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional 
Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this 
statement. Other key contributors to this testimony include Ronald 
Fecso, Chief Statistician; Signora May, Assistant Director; Thomas 
Beall; Steven J. Berke; Richard Hung; Andrea Levine; Catherine Myrick; 
and Timothy Wexler. 

[End of section] 

Related GAO Products: 

2010 Census: Fundamental Building Blocks of a Successful Enumeration 
Face Challenges. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-430T]. 
Washington, D.C.: March 5, 2009. 

2010 Census: Little Time Remains to Address Operational Challenges. 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-408T]. Washington, D.C.: 
March 5, 2009. 

2010 Census: Census Bureau Needs Procedures for Estimating the Response 
Rate and Selecting for Testing Methods to Increase Response Rate. 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-1012]. Washington, D.C.: 
September 30, 2008. 

2010 Census: The Bureau's Plans for Reducing the Undercount Show 
Promise, but Key Uncertainties Remain. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-1167T]. Washington, D.C.: September 
23, 2008. 

2010 Census: Bureau Needs to Specify How It Will Assess Coverage Follow-
up Techniques and When It Will Produce Coverage Measurement Results. 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-414]. Washington, D.C.: 
April 15, 2008. 

2010 Census: Diversity in Human Capital, Outreach Efforts Can Benefit 
the 2010 Census. [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-1132T]. 
Washington, D.C.: July 26, 2007. 

2010 Census: Census Bureau Has Improved the Local Update of Census 
Addresses Program, but Challenges Remain. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-07-736]. Washington, D.C.: June 14, 
2007. 

Decennial Census: Lessons Learned for Locating and Counting Migrant and 
Seasonal Farm Workers. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-03-605]. Washington, D.C.: July 3, 
2003. 

Decennial Census: Methods for Collecting and Reporting Data on the 
Homeless and Others without Conventional Housing Need Refinement. 
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-03-227]. Washington, D.C.: 
January 17, 2003. 

Decennial Census: Methods for Collecting and Reporting Hispanic 
Subgroup Data Need Refinement. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-03-228]. Washington, D.C.: January 17, 
2003. 

2000 Census: Review of Partnership Program Highlights Best Practices 
for Future Operations. [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-01-579]. Washington, D.C.: August 20, 
2001. 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. No. 111-5 
(Feb. 17, 2009). 

[2] H.R. Rep. No. 111-16, at 417 (2009). 

[3] GAO, 2010 Census: The Bureau's Plans for Reducing the Undercount 
Show Promise, but Key Uncertainties Remain, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-08-1167T] (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 23, 
2008). 

[4] The mail return rate differs from the mail response rate in that 
the mail response rate is calculated as a percentage of all the housing 
units in the mail-back universe, including those that are later 
discovered to be nonexistent or unoccupied. The Bureau uses this 
percentage as an indicator of its nonresponse follow-up workload. 

[5] GAO, 2000 Census: Review of Partnership Program Highlights Best 
Practices for Future Operations, [hyperlink, 
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-01-579] (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 20, 
2001). 

[6] The $48 million figure does not include funds for partnership 
staff. Also, Bureau officials have indicated that an additional $4 
million has been obligated for the campaign since the original life- 
cycle estimate of $212 million. 

[End of section] 

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