U.S. Census Bureau Offers Language Assistance Services To Help Russian Americans Complete the 2010 Census Form

The Census Bureau has launched the 2010 Census Language Assistance Program to help residents in the Russian American community who don’t speak English complete their census form. Building on the success of the Census 2000 Language Assistance Program, the Census Bureau offers resources to help each community achieve an accurate 2010 Census count. The Language Assistance Program also helps reduce the cost of the 2010 Census by reducing the number of census takers that must go door-to-door to help residents fill out the form.
For the first time in the history of the Census, Questionnaire Assistance Centers (QAC) will be available to assist Russian speakers. Residents can order Russian-language forms over the phone call through a toll free number 1-866-965-2010. Bilingual census personnel at QACs also can help Russian speakers fill out English forms that they receive in the mail. Residents can contact their Regional Census Center for a list of local QACs if they need assistance in completing the census form.

Another way that the Census Bureau hopes to increase participation within the Russian community is through Language Assistance Guides, which are available upon request in 59 languages, including Russian. Language Assistance Guides explain how to complete an English-language census form. All Language Assistance Guides will be available to read, download or print at 2010Census.gov or by calling one of the Telephone Questionnaire Assistance centers. The 2010Census.gov site also provides an informational video in Russian explaining step-by-step instructions for filling out the census form.

For any Russian-speakers that need further help, the Census Bureau is hiring bilingual census workers in addition to providing access to Russian-speaking employees at the QACs. The bilingual census employee will visit the respondent at their home to collect the answers in person if the respondent does not fill out and mail back the census form on time.

The Census Bureau encourages state and local government officials, as well as community leaders, to help their community receive its fair share of federal funding by driving local, targeted awareness campaigns that will reach the hard-to-count populations.

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 non-citizens, must be counted every 10 years. Census data is 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 forms in the history and takes about 10 minutes to complete. By law, the Census Bureau cannot share respondents’ answers with anyone, including federal agencies and law enforcement entities.