Champaign City Council will review updates and provisions being made for the 2010 Census at its Tuesday meeting. Council members will specifically overview the advertising efforts being made to students that would encourage them actively participate in the poll.
Lacey Rains, planner II for the Champaign Advance Planning Division, said the meeting will focus on promotion and details about the census count.
“Last time, we went into more depth with the background of the census, since it had been a long time that (the council) hadn’t heard of its mention,” Rains said. “Now, we’ll introduce to them the census committee and start sorting out all the activities we are going to be pulling off in the next few weeks.”
One of the anticipated activities for the census promotion is the 2010 Census Bureau Road Tour. The bureau will consult with the Champaign census committee about visiting the University within two to three weeks, Rains said. If its visit is confirmed, the bus will likely be stationed in the parking lot between Legends and Chipotle Mexican Grill on Green Street.
Rains said the committee will also present planning updates from the Illinois Census Bureau. She said it will specifically cover the city’s effort to cooperate with neighboring cities and the University.
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Andrew Levy, planner of the Illinois Census Bureau, said other Big Ten universities have involved students in their efforts to increase the census count. The University has been working with student organizations and committees.
“Ann Arbor (Michigan) came up with a competition to make an ad for the census, in which the winner’s ad would be put on local stations,” Levy said. “We haven’t got any student groups doing that here, but we’re coming up with other methods to still include them.”
Rains said she does not expect much controversy with the material to be covered in the meeting, but there are many people who are very critical of the upcoming census.
“(Students) need to understand that we’ve been doing this for decades. It’s not new,” she said. “It’s not a government conspiracy, but every penny we earn for taking full account of the city residents is good.”
