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CENSUS 2000 DRESS REHEARSAL
Columbia, South Carolina |
To conduct operational testing of methodologies planned for Census 2000. These methodologies are designed to provide a more accurate census at less cost. The sites selected for the dress rehearsal reflect characteristics that we believe will provide a good operational test of our procedures and systems.
This site contains the city of Columbia in its entirety, including a
small portion in Lexington County; the entire Town of Irmo, which is
in Richland and Lexington Counties; and the following 11 contiguous
counties in north central South Carolina.
Chester Lee
Chesterfield Marlboro
Darlington Newberry
Fairfield Richland
Kershaw Union
Lancaster
The Census Bureau selected this site because it contains living situations
and socioeconomic characteristics that we do not find in a predominantly
urban environment. The Columbia, South Carolina, site provides our
only opportunity to test procedures for developing the census address
list in an area containing a mixture of house number/street name and
rural route and box number addresses. Since the Columbia site has a
relatively high proportion of African Americans, it provides an
opportunity to test Census 2000 procedures for reducing the
differentials for this racial group. The site selected represents the
size of typical local census offices planned for Census 2000, which
was necessary to provide an understanding of the effectiveness of census
operations.
o The jurisdictions within the dress rehearsal site will have the
opportunity to observe first-hand the methodology planned for
Census 2000. This experience could be beneficial in preparing
their jurisdictions for the decennial census. The Census Bureau
plans to have an unprecedented partnership effort for Census 2000,
making this the "partnership" census. The Census Bureau plans
to work closely with state and local governments, community
organizations, and so forth to conduct a wide range of census
activities. For example, for the first time, the Census Bureau
will allow local governments to review the census address list to
ensure its completeness and accuracy. We also will work in
partnership with local governments on implementing our promotion
and outreach program, and to facilitate the availability of
census questionnaires. We will implement these partnerships
with the Census 2000 Dress Rehearsal, making the local
governments within the dress rehearsal sites our first partners
for Census 2000.
o The dress rehearsal will provide an economic benefit through
temporary jobs for taking the census. The Census Bureau
anticipates hiring over 350 temporary workers to conduct various
census operations. The duration of the jobs will vary from a
few weeks to nine months.
o The Census Bureau plans to provide jurisdictions with results
of the census, including some basic demographic, economic, and
housing data.
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