In the interest of mobilization, the US Census regional office in Philadelphia is going on a road trip.  They’ve got a sweet van, set to travel across the region and go to events.  In total, there are 13 vehicles criss-crossing the nation (one for each of the 12 census regions, as well as one national vehicle), spreading the good word about the Census.

For DC, our regional vehicle will be based out of Philadelphia. It’s even got a patriotic name – Constitution:

“Constitution” will travel throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and D.C. to remind the public that the census is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires that the U.S. House of Representatives seats “shall be apportioned among the several States … according to their respective Numbers,” and that “each State shall have at least one Representative.” That section also includes the requirement that a count of the population be taken every 10 years. The U.S. Constitution was authored and signed in Philadelphia on Sept. 17, 1787, and is the shortest and oldest written constitution in use by any nation in the world today. The vehicle “Constitution” celebrates the transformational moment in world history when our Constitution made the census an instrument of power for the governed over their government.

Each of the vans are GPS-enabled, so you can see where they are and where they’ve been in real time.  Additionally, each van has a list of upcoming events for that vehicle – laid out on a map.

Check out the mapping tool for yourself.  Here’s a screenshot, showing past and upcoming events in DC:

Screenshot of the Philadelphia Census van's route through DC

We’ll keep you updated on future events.

Recently, the Republican National Committee has been sending around a fund raising letter with all sorts of official language.  The letter calls itself a ‘census’ of the party, but asks for donations to the RNC as well as asking some partisan political questions.

Please feel free to donate to the Republican party if you so choose, but do not confuse this fake census with the real thing.   The 2010 Census will not ask for a donation, nor will it ask questions about your personal political opinions. There are just 10 questions, asking about the following subjects, paraphrased below:

1. How many people live in this house?
2. Do any additional people live in the house?
3. Is this house owned, rented, otherwise occupied?
4. What is your telephone number? (for clarification of answers)
5. What is your name?
6. What is your sex?
7. What is your date of birth?
8. Are you of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?
9. What is your race?
10. Do you sometimes live or stay in another location?

That’s it.  Remember, all of your personal information is strictly confidential.  Census data is only shared at the statistical level (i.e. to tell how many people live in the District of Columbia).

Amongst the highlights – the recently launched ad campaign will feature 28 ( ! ) different languages.

Census dogsledders. Image from the Washington Post

The 2010 Census is underway, with the first actual counting happening up in Alaska – by dogsled.  The rest of us will have to wait for our usual census forms to arrive in the mail in mid-March, but given Alaska’s remoteness (again, dogsleds), there’s no other way to get the forms to the people.  If you were to wait until the Spring, thawing snow would turn everything to mud, making it impossible to get around.

The Washington Post has a great write-up on the experience.

Census workers and trained locals are expected to take a week to interview the rest of Noorvik’s residents, using the same 10-question forms to be mailed to most households on March 15. Census workers also will visit 217 other rural Alaska communities in the coming weeks.

Alaskans in rural communities that, like Noorvik, are not linked by roads have been the first residents counted since the 1990 census. These communities are the places where the process is first conducted in person by census workers, who also make personal visits to nonresponding residents around the country.

It’s easier to get census counters to the villages around Alaska before muddy conditions brought on by the spring thaw makes access more difficult, according to Ralph Lee, director of the bureau’s Seattle region, which oversees Alaska.

So, DC – we can be thankful that we a) don’t have ‘muddy’ count as a full season, and b) that we don’t need dogsleds to complete the Census.  All we have to do is fill out the form when it comes in the mail.

Make no mistake about it, though – the Census is serious about getting everyone counted.  If they’re willing to travel via dogsled through the Alaskan wilderness, they’ll do anything to make sure we count everyone.

Ok, I just want to get a quick test of the blog platform here to see what we can do, and how it translates when exported to Facebook via RSS.

The first test – Al Roker on video.

The second test – an image.  How about a lovely 2010 sample Census form:

Want to take a closer look?  Try the interactive form on the US Census Bureau website.  No, you can’t fill the Census out online – you still need to fill out the paper form that will arrive in the mail in March – but you can see exactly what will be coming your way.