If you haven't already received it, you will. The advance letter is a new feature in the 2000 Census, it is intended to promote awareness that the Census questionnaires are on the way. It also provides an opportunity for households which need a form in in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese or Tagalog to request one . During the next few weeks, the U.S. Postal Service will deliver 115 million of these advance letters.
The letter is the first of three deliveries from the Census Bureau. The others are the questionnaire package itself, and the reminder postcard. The Postal Service will also attempt tp deliver the advance letter in rural areas. However, rural addresses are not compatible with the Census 2000 geographic processing systems. Therefore the Bureau has developed an address list and will deliver the questionnaires in rural areas using census enumerators. In order to raise awareness in the areas, the Census Bureau attempts to send an advance letter when it is believed there is a real mailing address. The Bureau solicited address information from all possible sources and every address has been field checked. However, when an address remains uncertain, the Bureau has to give it benefit of the doubt to ensure that it receives all possible chances of enumeration.
These census people apparently mean business, too. Once you get your Census packet you have to fill it out. If you fail to turn in your filled-out census form, you could be fined up to $100. Give an intentionly false answer, and the fine could rise as high as $500. If you make suggestions or give information with the intent to distort the census count, and you could be jailed for up to a year and fined up to $1,000. Although these penalties are provided for under Title 13 of the U.S. Code, the Census Bureau doesn't typically wave them over your head or even seek to use them against you. The bureau would rather have people see it as their civic duty to complete the census.
All that personal information that you're squeamish about revealing is part of the process, which is about gathering a wide range of data, not just counting every person in the nation. If it makes you feel any better, the Constitution says the Census Bureau can't divulge any information about a specific individual for 72 years.
As a Latino community we need to stand up and be counted. This is the perfect chance.
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