2010 Census Outreach to Target the Foreclosed and Immigrants

"With the 2010 census looming, tens of millions of residents in mostly dense urban areas such as Los Angeles and New York are at high risk of being missed due to language problems and a deepening economic crisis, government officials said Monday. The challenges are creating consternation in some cities, which say time and state budgets for outreach are short.

To ensure an accurate count, census officials said they were devoting $250 million from $1 billion in stimulus money for outreach that will include stepped-up canvassing of addresses to identify residences with multiple dwellers and homes now abandoned due to mortgage foreclosures.

The money will flow mostly toward dense coastal cities that traditionally have been more racially diverse. But places such as Iowa, with its rapid growth of Hispanics, or Maine, with its sizable Somali population, will also see additional outreach, the bureau said."