The university's Urban Studies Institute houses the state's clearinghouse for census information-the Kentucky State Data Center-as well as the state demographer who does population projections. Kentucky's center is among the nation's largest and one of only 13 based at a university. (Most are found in governmental offices, economic development cabinets or libraries.)

The people who work at the center are expected to make sense from the blur of anonymous numbers emerging from the nationwide count that takes place every 10 years, the next of which begins this spring.

Ron Crouch '71K, '77G and Beverly Martin Daly '92G, the data center's director and assistant director, head up the center and act as Gov. Paul Patton's liaisons promoting Census 2000's importance to Kentuckians. The two are links to Kentucky's 27-member Complete Count Committee, which includes U of L President John Shumaker. This committee initiates activities designed to produce a more accurate count of the state's residents.

To date, they have led 15 Kentucky League of Cities workshops to help newly elected officials understand the importance of the census. They make similar presentations to numerous other government, leadership and citizens' groups statewide. Crouch estimates he has given 250 such talks this year alone.

The data center's staff does its share, too. It handles numerous phone calls and visits from information seekers-about 5,000 requests to the U of L center and another 500 or so through its 75 affiliates-plus maintains the center's popular web site (cbpa.louisville.edu/ksdc/kpr).

The scope of information the center offers is mind-boggling. Crouch chuckles over calls from clients who say, "Send us all the data you have on Kentucky." "Then we have to ask, 'How many trucks are you willing to pay for?'," he says.

What's the Big Deal?

Ensuring that everyone stands up to be counted is a massive effort that requires years of planning. What difference does it make if a person doesn't complete and return his or her questionnaire?

For one thing, money-and lots of it. More than $200 billion a year in federal, state and local funds is distributed nationally based on census data. The money is used to finance everything from schools and highways to police stations.

"For every [Kentucky] household missing in the census, there's a loss each year during the decade of $568 in federal funding to state and local agencies," Daly says.

The census also determines how many U.S. representatives an area is allowed. The 1990 count, for example, showed a population decline in eastern Kentucky's 7th Congressional District, which resulted in its dissolution and redistribution.

Demographic information extrapolated from the figures can be vital to an area's economic future. Businesses and industry use the data when making important decisions about where to locate a new factory, for instance, or even to decide whether McDonald's will come to your town.

How's It Done? The Census Bureau says its head count is "the largest peacetime mobilization in our nation's history."

The process begins with a questionnaire timed to arrive in mid or late March. Urban households receive the forms by mail; in rural areas, census workers deliver them. All forms should be returned by mail. Those who don't will be visited by a census worker, usually in April or May.

Students living in college residence halls also receive questionnaires. Daly says that no matter where the student's hometown may be, the form should be filled out based on where he or she is living on April 1.

According to Daly, 83 percent of America's homes in 2000 will receive a short census form requesting only basic information-such as the number of people who live there, their ages, genders and whether the home is owned or rented. (The 2000 questionnaire is the shortest in 180 years.)

The remaining 17 percent-one in every six homes-will get a longer questionnaire asking detailed questions about occupation, education level, income, home value, etc. The one-in-six ratio was developed to save both money and time, Daly explains. The data provided by this breakdown still gives analysts enough information to extrapolate a clear demographic picture. Fieldwork should be completed by November. All U.S. forms will then be sent to three processing sites set up just for Census 2000, or to the only permanent national processing center, located in Jeffersonville, Ind.

The Census Bureau says its head count is "the largest peacetime mobilization in our nation's history." The data collected helps determine everything from how much government funding an area receives to its congressional representation. Shown is the bureau's national processing center in Jeffersonville, Ind. (Photo courtesy of the Courier-Journal.)

Making Sense of It All

After most citizens fill in and return their questionnaires, they forget about the census for another decade. But the job of the "data miners" is just beginning.

Analysts will use the new census figures to project the state's population growth during the next decade and to compile in-depth technical reports for various government agencies and other clients.

Michael Price, the state demographer since 1981, works within the Kentucky Population Research Program, part of the state data center. He says that he and his co-workers use the census data as a starting point to produce other information.

In the past this has included compiling a labor force analysis for UPS and recruitment projections for the U.S. Army. The U of L team also compiles Kentucky's statistics for such things as KidsCount, a project monitoring the health and well-being of children nationwide. Some census data, such as income, is useful taken directly from the questionnaire. Other data must be analyzed to put it in proper context. For instance, Price and his colleagues, Thomas Sawyer and Martye Scobee, will compare the Census 2000 figures with their previous population projections to determine their accuracy.

Information, Please

The U.S. Census Bureau releases information throughout the decade between the national counts; the state data centers disseminate it. In effect, the centers become the bureau's liaison with the citizens. They know what clients want to learn from the census data and help the bureau refine its products and be more user-friendly.

So who's calling for information? Just about everyone from politicians, who use the data in their campaigns, and the media (information on the Appalachian economy is a popular request) to governmental agencies in other states. Daly's staff tries to help them all. At times, callers don't know what they need so the staff helps them zero in on the proper information.

"And although the data is available on the Internet, that doesn't mean people understand it or know how to use it," Daly says.

Daly also serves on the U.S. Census Bureau's national steering committee for state data centers. The centers are realizing they need to educate people about how to use the data, so the committee is studying ways to help them do this effectively.

Crouch's exposure to the state's hard facts makes him an important source of information about its "real issues." He often speaks before news departments, chambers of commerce, state and local agencies and other such groups on this subject and has gained a reputation for providing information with perspective-some of it stereotype-defying.

As officials in one Kentucky city said to him recently, "What you told us was totally different from what we thought we looked like."

U of L's population researchers believe that ensuring that the state's officials, businesses, industries and others are not basing their decisions on "myth-information" is a vital function of their jobs.

"Our role," Crouch says, "is to provide an accurate picture of Kentucky that helps in responding to the issues and trends."

Judy Hughes is a communications and marketing specialist at U of L.