in Preparation for 1998 Dress Rehearsal for Census 2000

[BOC]

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NEWS

Economic & Statistics Administration


_________________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1998

Census 2000 Publicity Office CB98-C.02
301-457-2000/301-457-2992 (fax)
301-457-4067 (TDD)

Sacramento Local Census Office
916-498-5120/916-498-5117 (fax)

** CENSUS BUREAU MEDIA ADVISORY**

Census Bureau Director to Meet in Sacramento on Local Partnerships
in Preparation for 1998 Dress Rehearsal for Census 2000

Sacramento, Calif. -- Martha Farnsworth Riche, director of the Commerce
Department's Census Bureau, will meet with local government and
nongovernmental organizations in Sacramento on January 22 to discuss ways
they can participate in the city's 1998 Dress Rehearsal for Census 2000
and in the census itself.

Many of the methods the Census Bureau proposes to use to make Census
2000 "simpler, less costly and more accurate" will be tested in the dress
rehearsal in Sacramento on April 18. Sacramento is the only urban site
among the three 1998 Dress Rehearsal sites; the others include 11 rural
counties in South Carolina and the Menominee Indian Reservation in
Wisconsin.

Riche will discuss ways that governmental, tribal, educational and
religious organizations, foundations, trade unions and community action
and advocacy groups can participate in the city's 1998 Dress Rehearsal for
Census 2000.

As a 1998 Dress Rehearsal site, Sacramento will receive valuable
updated census information two years before the national headcount.

Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna, Jr., the City Council, the city's Complete
Count Committee, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, and
KZSA-Spanish Radio Network, Inc. are cosponsors of the January 22
partnership meeting.

Topics to be discussed include: making local residents aware of the
1998 Dress Rehearsal for Census 2000; recruiting local temporary workers;
forming local answer-the-census committees; promoting the census with
residents to encourage prompt response to the questionnaire; and
disseminating summaries after the census.

1:30-2:00 p.m. Media Briefing
Local Census Office
1020 12th Street, Suite 300
Sacramento, CA 95814
PH: 916/498-5120
Contact: Ed Salazar

2:00-4:00 p.m. Town Hall Meeting (Media Invited)

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The Census Bureau pre-eminent collector and provider of timely, relevant
and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. In
more than 100 surveys annually and 20 censuses a decade, evolving from the
first census in 1790, the Census Bureau provides official information
about America's people, businesses, industries and institutions.