Cities Take Reins in Census Marketing

"Even though the nation's constitutionally mandated decennial population count is a federal responsibility, municipalities across the country are distributing census literature, organizing speeches on the census and, yes, adorning their garbage trucks with messages about the census.

These efforts reflect a major shift. Just two decades ago, state and local governments' role in the census was small. Today not only are they critical public relations partners, but they are also heavily engaged in updating the massive address file on which the U.S. Census Bureau depends.

Localities have embraced this expanded role for one simple reason: money."

Undercounting in cities across the country has been a big problem for local governments, which have lost out on critical funding that's distributed based on the Census. To avoid undercounting, cities are trying extra hard this time around to notify residents about the Census.