Newsroom Archive

About the Partnership Program

The 2010 Census Partnership Program brings national, regional, tribal and local government, business and non-profit organizations together to raise awareness of and encourage participation in the 2010 Census. Partners carry a trusted voice within their organizations, their communities and the publics they serve and can encourage everyone to take part in the 2010 count.

• Approximately 70 percent of partnership staff members are being hired to forge relationships and ensure the 2010 Census messages will reach every corner of the United States.
• An additional 2,027 partnership staff members will be added to provide additional support to partnership activities.
• More than 250 national organizations have signed on as 2010 Census National partners, as of March 15, 2009.
• To see a list of regional and local partners currently signed on in each region, please contact the appropriate regional office.

How Partners Are Getting Involved

The National Partner Briefing on March 30, 2009, in Washington, D.C. marks the launch of National Partner outreach activities on behalf of the 2010 Census. By signing on as partners, organizations send a strong message about the importance of the census and the benefits of being counted. Some activities partners are undertaking include:

• Joining a Complete Count Committee, an organized group of influential leaders from business, government and non-profits committed to increasing census participation.
• Helping recruit census workers.
• Providing space for Be Counted sites and Questionnaire Assistance Centers or for testing and training census employees.
• Issuing a proclamation or other public endorsement of the 2010 Census.
• Including census information in organizational newsletters, mailings and online.

Why Organizations Are Signing on As Partners

• Every year, the federal government can allocate more than $300 billion to states and communities based, in part, on census data.
• Census data guide local decision-makers on where to build new roads, hospitals, child-care and senior citizen centers, schools and more.
• Businesses use census data to locate supermarkets, new housing and other facilities.
• Census data determine how many seats each state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives.