Newsroom Archive

The U.S. Census Monitoring Board, in a report issued today, noted a "high level of commitment, illustrated by the Census Bureau, local census offices (LCOs) and especially local communities, to Census 2000. "

The report summarizes the results of monitoring board visits to 51 LCOs across the country to evaluate various aspects of Census 2000 operations. These operations included partnerships and promotion, recruitment and staffing, field operations, mail response, data capture, quality assurance and the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation program.

Responding to the report, Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt said: "We are pleased that the board acknowledged the Census Bureau's commitment to a quality census and that they recognized the support we received from local officials at all levels of government and from Census 2000 partners across the country."

"We are especially pleased that the board recognized the public's cooperation in responding to Census 2000, enabling the nation to reverse the three-census decline in mail-back rates. Many factors went into this improvement: the advertising campaign, the Census in Schools program, our partnership program, complete count committees and, especially, the help of the U.S. Congress," Prewitt said.

The Census Monitoring Board visited the local census offices up to three times each. This accounted for almost 30 percent of the 550 oversight visits that helped make Census 2000 the most open and transparent census in our nation's history.

The 240-page report, U.S. CENSUS MONITORING BOARD Field Observations from Fifty-One Local Census Offices. Report to Congress, is the fourth in a series of joint reports. Previous reports were released in April 1999, October 1999 and April 2000.

Copies of the current report, or a summary, may be obtained from the U. S. Census Monitoring Board (presidential side: 301-457-9900; congressional side: 301-457-5080).