2010 Census Work Begins in Earnest

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published April 1, 2009 at 7:08 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Census workers are gearing up for the 2010 census which is officially one year away. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more on what is at stake.

Census workers are gearing up for the next census, which is officially one year away. Letters will go out April 1st, 2010. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more on what is at stake.

Government officials say the 2000 Census missed an estimated 8 million people nationwide, mostly minorities and immigrants. It also counted about 4 million people twice: mostly students and people who own more than one home.

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Ardess Lilly coordinates outreach in Southern California, including San Diego. He says the next year will be spent building partnerships with community groups that work with the under -counted populations to gain their trust.

Lilly says the 2010 census questionnaire will only include 10 questions, "It's really easy to fill out the form, it's a short form for 2010, it's safe and it's very important ."

Lilly says minority groups need to be reassured the personal information collected will not be used against them.

Over the past decade, Lilly says, $300 billion in federal money has been distributed, based on the numbers collected in the previous census.

Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.