{"id":5707,"date":"2001-02-25T12:00:33","date_gmt":"2001-02-25T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/multiracial.com\/?p=5707"},"modified":"2016-12-22T14:58:25","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T14:58:25","slug":"new-census-data-will-hit-you-where-you-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/multiracial.com\/index.php\/2001\/02\/25\/new-census-data-will-hit-you-where-you-live\/","title":{"rendered":"New census data will hit you where you live"},"content":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2001 Gannett Company, Inc.
\nGannett News Service<\/div>\n
February 25, 2001, Sunday, FINAL EDITION<\/div>\n

<\/a>SECTION:<\/strong> Pg. ARC<\/p>\n

<\/a>LENGTH:<\/strong> 1086 words<\/p>\n

<\/a>HEADLINE:<\/strong> New census data will hit you where you live<\/p>\n

<\/a>BYLINE:<\/strong> CARL WEISER; Gannett News Service<\/p>\n

<\/a>DATELINE:<\/strong> WASHINGTON<\/p>\n

<\/a>BODY:<\/strong>
\nWASHINGTON \u2014 Now comes the cool census stuff.<\/p>\n

The Census Bureau next month will release the next major batch
\nof data from its 2000 census: population, race<\/strong> and Hispanic ethnicity
\navailable for each county, township, neighborhood \u2014 even your
\nblock.<\/p>\n

“You’re getting local. That’s the cool thing here,”
\nsaid Edward J. Spar, executive director of the Council of Professional
\nAssociations on Federal Statistics, which represents groups that
\nrely on federal statistics.<\/p>\n

“It’s interesting things like did Baltimore city grow or
\ndecline in population? Where in the state of Texas did population
\nshifts occur?” the Census Bureau’s Cathy McCully said. “You
\nget your first look at race<\/strong> distribution. Your first look at the
\nunder-18 population \u2014 where the high fertility rates might be.”<\/p>\n

The numbers to be released in March are aimed primarily at political-data
\njunkies in state capitols, who will use them to draw new legislative
\nand congressional district lines. The figures include the number
\nof people of each group older than 18, the national voting age.<\/p>\n

In December, the Census Bureau released the first information
\nfrom its 2000 census, but it was simply state population figures
\nand the corresponding number of congressional seats each state
\nwould get. Now politicos can draw the lines that determine where
\nthose districts are and who your national and state representatives
\nwill be.<\/p>\n

But political operatives won’t be alone in gobbling up this data.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Business will use the information to figure out where to target
\nmailings, what cities now have the population to sustain their
\nbusiness, where to market to minorities or how to realign sales
\nturfs.<\/p>\n

The Census Bureau and other private groups do put out annual estimates
\non population. But the actual head count from the 2000 census
\n“is going to be the first check we’ve had as to whether these
\nfigures are accurate,” said G. Scott Thomas, editor of Demographics
\nDaily, an online newsletter for business.<\/p>\n

At marketing giant Claritas, the data will be used to update its
\npopulation estimates, which are based on 1990 census data. Claritas’
\nclients, which include most Fortune 500 companies, in turn, will
\nuse that information.<\/p>\n

“Say, McDonald’s. They’re a client,” offered Claritas
\nspokesman Steve Moore. “They use our data to determine where
\nto put their stores, or what they’re going to serve, or the kind
\nof menu they might develop.”<\/p>\n

\u2014 Local governments will use the data to plan for schools, roads,
\nor where, for example, to put bilingual offices.<\/p>\n

“That’s how they plan how many seats they need in each classroom,”
\nsaid Jacqueline Byers, research director for the National Association
\nof Counties. And local community colleges can look at the under-18
\npopulation and gauge how many students they might need to accommodate
\nin the future, she said.<\/p>\n

‘Micropolitan area’<\/p>\n

Some cities are wondering if they will lose status as a metropolitan
\narea, gain that status, or become a new census entity: a “micropolitan
\narea.”<\/p>\n

Minimum population for a metropolitan area: 50,000. But some communities
\nwill find themselves a micropolitan area, the new designation
\nfor places 10,000 to 50,000 people. The boundaries of the metro
\nareas will be set much later, after commuting data come in.<\/p>\n

“There’s a certain status that comes with being a metro area,”
\nMcCully said.<\/p>\n

\u2014 The federal government uses population data to dispense grant
\nmoney. About $ 185 billion in federal grant money in fiscal 1998
\nwas dispensed using census population data, according to the General
\nAccounting Office.<\/p>\n

But many of the largest federal grant programs such as Medicaid,
\nspecial education, foster care or food aid also are based on income
\nstatistics or other census data that will be released during the
\ncoming year.<\/p>\n

The importance of the data is one reason at least four cities
\nand a county are fighting about whether to use estimates to adjust
\nthe data to make up for people \u2014 largely minorities \u2014 who were
\nmissed, or people who were counted twice. Many scientists support
\nadjusting the data, but government officials, including most Republicans,
\nare worried that adjusting will create phantom Americans.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles, Inglewood and Santa Clara County in California; Stamford,
\nConn.; and San Antonio, Texas, filed their lawsuit Wednesday to
\nprevent the Bush administration’s commerce secretary from making
\nthe decision on adjusting. They want the bureau to decide, in
\nhopes of getting the adjustment.<\/p>\n

Undercounts in the 1990 census left health planners unprepared
\nfor 400,000 uninsured Americans, distorted transportation planning
\nand shortchanged areas with high levels of child poverty \u2014 because
\nthose children were missed, according to several members of the
\nU.S. Census Monitoring Board, a government panel created in 1997
\nto track the 2000 census.<\/p>\n

“If millions of America’s poor, minorities, children and
\nnewest residents are disenfranchised over the next 10 years, they
\nwill not only be left behind, they will never catch up,”
\nboard co-chairman Gilbert F. Casellas said.<\/p>\n

But members of the board appointed by the GOP Congress complained
\nthat Casellas was stirring up racial tensions and said the 2000
\ncensus was one of the most accurate in history.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Demographers, social scientists, researchers, and of course,
\nreporters, will use the data to calculate anything based on population
\nor race:<\/strong> crime rates, education level, or health.<\/p>\n

The race<\/strong> data are vital for determining racial disparities in
\njobs or housing, for example.<\/p>\n

“It’s a field day for the Ph.D.s,” Spar said. “Sociologists
\nand demographers, they’re all chomping at the bits.”<\/p>\n

For the first time, the census data will show how many Americans
\nconsider themselves multiracial. Americans were allowed to check
\nmore than one of the six categories; the combinations total 63.<\/p>\n

The new numbers “will show that people are not sticking to
\ntheir own so-called ‘race,<\/strong>‘ that the intermarriage rates are going
\nup, that people are feeling more free to shed the “one drop
\nof blood” rule,” said James A. Landrith Jr., editor
\nof Multiracial.com and The Multiracial Activist.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a white Alexandria, Va., man married to a black woman, Landrith
\nsaid he hoped the new data “will help us get past this obsession
\nwith race<\/strong> this country has.”<\/p>\n

On the Web<\/p>\n

\u2014 www.census.gov<\/a>, Census Bureau<\/p>\n

\u2014 www.cmbp.gov<\/a>, Census Monitoring Board<\/p>\n

\u2014 www.claritas.com<\/a>, Claritas<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Copyright 2001 Gannett News Service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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