Census Bureau Launches 2010 Census Road Tour Across Nation

'Portrait of America' Vehicles Aim to Increase Awareness and Participation in
Census

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 2010 Census Portrait of
America Road Tour set out today from New York City's Times Square, launching a
cross-country interactive experience designed to increase awareness and
encourage participation in the nation's once-a-decade population count.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090226/CENSUSLOGO )

During the next four months, the tour will be part of the largest civic
outreach and awareness campaign in U.S. history - stopping and exhibiting at
more than 800 events nationwide. From local parades and festivals to major
sporting events like the Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four, the Census Bureau
will attempt to motivate America's growing and increasingly diverse population
to complete and mail back 10-question census forms when they arrive in
mailboxes March 15-17.

"The Road Tour seeks to educate and empower every person living across our
country to take part and participate in the 2010 Census," Census Bureau
Director Robert Groves said. "Attendees at Road Tour events will learn about
the census, how it affects their local communities and even share their
personal stories about why the census is important to them at interactive
kiosks and exhibits."

The 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour features a national vehicle - a
46-foot gooseneck trailer - and 12 regional vehicles - cargo vans with 14-foot
pull trailers. The national vehicle, nicknamed "Mail It Back," brings the
benefits of participating in the 2010 Census to life through a visual,
interactive representation of the 10-question census form.

The regional vehicles offer a similar user experience, including GPS
technology that allows visitors to track the tour online as it happens and
through daily social media postings on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and
YouTube.

Regional launch events include vehicles departing from national landmarks
across the nation, such as the USS Constitution in Boston, Independence Mall
in Philadelphia, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Santa Monica Pier in Los
Angeles and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Altogether, more than 3
million people will have the opportunity to share their photos and stories,
explaining why the census will make a difference in their communities. This
constantly changing "portrait of America" will be captured during all Road
Tour events and will live online at 2010census.gov.

Each vehicle has a unique name selected to help educate people about the
Census Bureau, and they have unique Twitter handles for on-the-road updates.
For updates on all 13 vehicles from January through April, follow us on
Twitter at: @2010Portrait.

Vehicle Name Census Region Unique Twitter Handle
Mail It Back National @10MailItBack
Representation Atlanta @Representat10n
Democracy Boston @10Democracy
Founders Charlotte @10Founders
Population Chicago @10Population
Take 10 Dallas @10Take10
Geography Denver @10Geography
Statistics Detroit @10Statistics
Decennial Kansas City @10Decennial
Confidential Los Angeles @10Confidential
Liberty New York @10Liberty
Constitution Philadelphia @10Constitution
Abacus Seattle @10Abacus

The Portrait of America Road Tour was designed to minimize its impact on the
environment, with its 223 metric ton carbon footprint being offset through
carbon credit donations by Carbonfund.org. Other national partners associated
with the tour include Best Buy, Google, Sprint, 3M, MTV, Telemundo, Black
Entertainment Television, Country Music Television, Sesame Street and Valero
Energy. These partners have pledged to help increase awareness about the 2010
Census and have each provided resources to make the Road Tour and the census a
success.

ABOUT THE 2010 CENSUS

The 2010 Census is a count of everyone living in the United States. By law,
everyone in the United States, both citizens and noncitizens, must be counted
every 10 years. Census data are used to reapportion congressional seats to
states and directly affect how more than $400 billion per year in federal
funding is distributed to state, local and tribal governments. The 2010 Census
form is one of the shortest census questionnaires in history and takes about
10 minutes to complete. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents'
answers with anyone, including other federal agencies and law enforcement
entities.

As with all 2010 Census information, the address information collected by the
Census Bureau is confidential by law (Title 13, U.S. Code, Section 9). All
Census Bureau employees take an oath of nondisclosure and are sworn for life
to protect the confidentiality of the data. The penalty for unlawful
disclosure is a fine of up to $250,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or
both.

Editor's note: News releases, reports and data tables are available on the
Census Bureau's home page. Go to http://www.census.govand click on
"Releases."

Public Information Office
301-763-3691
e-mail: pio@census.gov

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Public Information Office, +1-301-763-3691, pio@census.gov