Census workers begin Utah effort

With the 2010 Census still four months away, census workers are ramping up their efforts across Utah in hopes of counting each and every resident in the state.

"We've been going to every corner of the state," Todd Hansen, a local census office manager, said Wednesday, "every house, apartment, trailer and occupied cave."

The Census Bureau recently opened new offices in Provo and Ogden, and census officials are working with community liaisons, hoping to ease the fears of traditionally hard to reach minority groups.

"Our personal data will always be safe," Rod Castillo, director of the Pete Suazo Business Center, told a group of people gathered at a west-side center Wednesday.

State Superintendent Larry Shumway said census data figures into the amount of federal funding Utah schools receive for Head Start, special education and Title I programs.

Census officials also stressed the importance of returning the mailed questionnaire. For every 1 percent increase in mail returns, taxpayers are saved an estimated $90 million, officials said.

— Aaron Falk