Turn around time was less than a day. I received the form, filled it out immediately and mailed it off. I wanted to be counted. More importantly, I wanted my children to be counted, and for them to understand the importance of one little piece of paper – not just for us, but an entire community.

Did you know that an accurate Census count will help towards proper funding in:

• Special Education Grants to states ($10.8 billion)
• Head Start ($6.9 billion)
• State Children’s Health Insurance Program ($5.9 billion)
• Foster Care Title IV-E ($4.7 billion)
• Improving Teacher Quality State Grants ($2.9 billion)

The bad part is that if everyone doesn’t fill out the census, programs like those noted above may not receive funding in your community. Children could suffer in health care and education as a result of the census not being filled out and returned. What’s holding you back?

Not only could funding be diminished without accurate counts for community programs, but without the help of every household filling out the ten minute census form and mailing it back, taxpayers could potentially pay $1.5 billion to send census takers door-to-door to count households.

I would much rather taxpayers spend 42 cents on a stamp per envelope then to pay $57 per household for a census taker. It just make sense.

Tomorrow, April 16th, is the last day to mail back your census form. Take those ten minutes now to fill it out and drop it in the mail box.

Count in 2010!

Other resources:

http://twitter.com/USCensusBureau

http://www.facebook.com/uscensusbureau

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/

Hashtag for Census: #2010census