It happens every 10 years -- the U.S. Census is set to begin in just a few of months. City and county officials want to get the word out now, so everyone is ready to be counted.
Ernest Castillo and his family have lived in their East Austin neighborhood for years, and he's not sure if anyone on his block will take part in the 2010 census, including him.
"I don't think they will," Castillo said. "We'll see, that's all I can say. I'll fill it out if it's that simple."
Monday morning, city and county officials launched a push to have everyone fill out a census form. They want as many people counted as possible, saying the area's future depends on it.
An accurate count helps determine the state's congressional representatives and local legislative boundaries.
"Most important(ly), it affects how much money we get federal funding for a whole plethora of federal programs to fund our services in Austin and Travis County. Historically we believe we've been under-counted and we want to make sure that doesn't happen again," said Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, when the last census was taken in 2000, more than 656,000 people lived in Austin. In 2008, that number was estimated to be about 747,000 Austinites, with about a million people in Travis County.
The city and county created the Complete Count Committee to get the word out about the census and get you counted. That group's goal is to reach out to people like the homeless, and others in the community who don't trust anyone with their personal information.
"We have individuals with problems with the criminal justice system and we have people who just want to be left alone," said County Judge Sam Biscoe. "This information is simply used by the Census Bureau for the count. Getting individuals to believe that, I think, becomes easier over time, but it's a major obstacle."
There will also be major outreach efforts in the Hispanic and Asian communities to have everyone stand up and be counted, including undocumented workers.
"All of this information is very secret, it's not public information," said Committee Member Susana Almanza. "It cannot be let out to everyone and I think that is what we're going to have to educate the community about."
This census is different than any other in history because it's so short. In the past it's taken some time to fill out dozens of questions, but this census questionnaire is just 10 questions long.
The census begins on April 1, 2010.
