The Census Bureau’s annual report released Tuesday offers a snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for 2010, when joblessness hovered above 9 percent for a second year. It comes at a politically sensitive time for President Barack Obama, who has acknowledged in the midst of a re-election fight that the unemployment rate could persist at high levels through next year.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent, or 46.2 million, up from 14.3 percent in 2009. The official poverty level is an annual income of $22,314 for a family of four.

Reflecting the lingering impact of the recession, the U.S. poverty rate from 2007-2010 has now risen faster than any three-year period since the early 1980s, when a crippling energy crisis amid government cutbacks contributed to inflation, spiraling interest rates and unemployment.

Measured by total numbers, the 46 million now living in poverty is the largest on record dating back to when the census began tracking poverty in 1959. Based on percentages, it tied the poverty level in 1993 and was the highest since 1983.

Broken down by state, Mississippi had the highest share of poor people, at 22.7 percent, according to calculations by the Census Bureau. It was followed by Louisiana, the District of Columbia, Georgia, New Mexico and Arizona. On the other end of the scale, New Hampshire had the lowest share, at 6.6 percent.

The share of Americans without health coverage rose from 16.1 percent to 16.3 percent _ or 49.9 million people _ after the Census Bureau made revisions to numbers of the uninsured. That is due mostly to continued losses of employer-provided health insurance in the weakened economy.

Congress passed a health overhaul last year to deal with rising numbers of the uninsured. While the main provisions do not take effect until 2014, one aspect taking effect in late 2010 allowed young adults until age 26 to be covered under their parents’ health insurance.

Brett O’Hara, chief of the Health and Disability Statistics branch at the Census Bureau, noted that the uninsured rate for adults ages 18 to 24 declined last year _ from 29.3 percent to 27.2 percent. It was the only age group which posted a decrease. “For the change in uninsured, the law change certainly could be a factor,” he said.

The median _ or midpoint _ household income was $49,445, down 2.3 percent from 2009.

The latest numbers, which cover Obama’s second year in office, offer political fodder for both parties as Obama seeks to push a new $447 billion plan for creating jobs and stimulating the economy. The plan includes a proposed payroll tax cut and an extension of unemployment benefits.

Obama is urging Congress to pay for the new spending largely by increasing taxes on the wealthy, which Republicans have rejected emphatically.

On Tuesday, the Census Bureau noted the impact of government safety-net programs on the poor. It estimated that new unemployment benefits passed in 2009, which gave workers up to 99 weeks of payments after a layoff, and did not run out for most people until this year, lifted 3.2 million above the poverty line. Social Security kept about 20.3 million, seniors as well as working-age adults receiving disability payments, out of poverty.

The key to this endeavor is having every household fill out and mail back a completed census form. Participation is critical, as the results determine how Congress is apportioned and how more than $400 billion in federal funds are distributed annually to state, local and tribal areas.

One way to help ensure that everyone is counted is to form Complete Count Committees in communities, municipalities, cities, counties, states, and tribal governments across the country.

Complete Count Committees are volunteer teams consisting of community leaders, faith-based groups, schools, businesses, media outlets, and others who are appointed by elected officials and work together to make sure entire communities are counted.

“We want the 2010 Census to be the most accurate yet, and we are again calling upon Complete Count Committees to help us achieve that goal,” said Dr. Robert Groves, director of the U.S. Census Bureau. “To ensure an accurate count and distribution of funds for schools, roads and elderly services, the support of local Complete Count Committees is vital.”

A variety of state, county, municipal, tribal and community-based organizations formed 11,800 Complete Count Committees during Census 2000. These committees developed targeted outreach plans specific to their communities to supplement what the Census Bureau was already doing through paid advertising and partnership efforts. As a result, these committees helped

inform local residents — including those historically hard to reach populations— of the importance of responding to the census. In part because of these efforts, the response rate for Census 2000 increased for the first time in 30 years and the undercount of those historically missed during a decennial census was reduced. In short, the Complete Count Committees, when combined with the Census Bureau’s paid advertising and partnership program, made a huge improvement in the quality and accuracy of Census 2000.

In 2010, we need even more of these committees to help educate and inform our increasingly diverse nation. Complete Count Committees can start now to create awareness within their communities about the upcoming 2010 Census. They can donate space for testing and training temporary census workers, publicize recruiting efforts and obtain endorsements from local leaders. They can conduct census rallies or parades, media luncheons, and interfaith breakfasts and weekend events, as we get closer to Census Day.

The 2010 Census will have one of the shortest census questionnaires in the history of the United States, dating back to the first census in 1790. The 2010 Census will ask just name, gender, age, race, ethnicity, relationship and whether the head of household owns or rents their home. The census form will take only about 10 minutes on average to complete, and answers are protected by law and strictly confidential.

For more information about forming a Complete Count Committee, please contact your Census Bureau regional office and ask to speak with a Partnership staff member. Staff can provide you with training materials, timelines, suggested activities, and a Complete Count

Committee handbook to make your committee a success. Visit the Census Bureau’s Web site at

<http://www.census.gov> and click on “Regional Offices” for contact information.

Contact:

Public Information Office 301-763-3691/763-3762 (fax) 301-457-1037 (TDD) E-mail: <pio@census.gov>

At a meeting Wednesday night on Capitol Hill of the House Information Policy, Census, and National Archives Subcommittee, a parade of congress people worried that the Census has not done enough to engage local and ethnic media, which Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) called “the bibles of certain communities.”

Over $340 million has been allocated to the Census Bureau for a promotion and advertising campaign to avoid an undercount, part of an overall Census budget of $15 billion, triple the bureau’s 2000 budget.

But with just five weeks to go before the April 1 deadline for mailing back Census questionnaires, lawmakers wondered if that money was being targeted effectively. They were quick to criticize Census officials for a culture of “unresponsiveness,” and for a campaign that often seemed to rely on “big talent” rather than local voices.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) noted that $118 million had been allocated for “production, labor, and ‘other’” in budget notes. Many lawmakers on the panel, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), said they still hadn’t received clear budget breakdowns for which communities were receiving what share of the ad dollars, and how many ad firms the Census had subcontracted with.

“I, for one, am terribly disappointed in the Census in giving us details,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) as the hearing began on Wednesday night.

Much of the subcommittee’s criticism centered around the conduct of the Madison Avenue firm DraftFCB, which is coordinating the Census Bureau advertising campaign.

In questioning the campaign’s effectiveness in reaching communities that had been undercounted in 2000, Chaffetz cited the Census Super Bowl ad, which cost $2.5 million, and ads during the Olympics that had cost over $5 million. He called attention to the Census on-line campaign that had yielded only 8,500 followers on Facebook, 2,400 followers on Twitter and 64 uploads on You Tube. Noting the low numbers, Chaffetz said, “How do you justify millions of dollars out the door? It’s a mystery to me.”

Jeff Tarakajian of DraftFCB defended the campaign by saying that awareness about the Census “was extremely high for where we are now,” and that 54 percent of the paid media budget was allocated to ethnic audiences in 2010 compared to 47 percent in the 2000 Census. Groves added that over 200,000 “partner organizations” around the country had been called on to help get the word out.

But lawmakers continually questioned who those partners were, and whether the Census was digging deep enough into communities. They said their constituents in California, Utah and Texas had expressed dismay at widespread disorganization at the regional level.

“I am increasingly concerned about what I am hearing from black newspapers and black radio stations,” said Waters. “It appears that our message of reaching the undercounted is not being respected.”

That’s unnecessary, said Sandy Close, executive director of New America Media, who appeared before the subcommittee.

“There’s no question that the ethnic media ‘get’ the Census — they get their communities’ stake in a complete count,” Close said.

She described meeting with nearly 600 ethnic media representatives around the country in 12 roundtables with local and national Census officials over the past year. At those briefings, she said, “You could cut the enthusiasm with a knife.”

But 47 percent of those outlets were left out of an ad buy, and 70 percent reported never hearing back from Census advertising firms, including DraftFCB, Close noted. Their experience with the Census was one of “anxiety and confusion” over how they could get involved, she said.

“The selection process that you use for minority ad buys is unacceptable,” echoed Jackson Lee.

Also appearing before the committee were Karen Narasaki of the Asian American Justice Center, Arturo Vargas of National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), and Danny Blakewell, chair of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA).

Vargas cited an over-reliance by the Census on using Spanish-language media in reaching Latino audiences, and not enough messaging in reaching the 9.1 million Latinos in the United States who only speak English at home.

One reason for the widespread feeling of disengagement, said Narasaki, was that a lot of decisions had been made about who would be working with the Census many years earlier – years before a recession and heightened fears over immigration status had changed America.

“One of the biggest issues to overcome among Asian and Latino audiences is distrust in government,” she said. “It’s the media in those communities who are going to help. An ad on the Super Bowl is not going to do it.”

But panelists agreed that it was not too late to turn the tide. As the Census enters the third phase of its campaign – the crucial “nonresponse phase” – many called for a greater investment in the ethnic media sector.

“The Black Press of America needs at least $10 million,” said Bakewell, head of NNPA. “Black people do not live in only 16 markets in America. Black newspapers, radio stations, black churches — that’s where we are.”

Close, of New America Media, called on Congress to invest in the ethnic media sector directly, so that the media themselves could create the messages that would most effectively mobilize their communities for the 2010 Census.

Close cited one targeting the Native American community where a woman in jeans walks across an open plain, towards three tepees.

“These ads were created for a Native American community that is nowhere near the plains and who do not live in tepees,” said Close. “They were offensive, and the media didn’t use them.”

Another ad was brought to the overhead screen, created by the Hoopa tribe of Northern California for the Two Rivers Tribune. Across a local landscape the ad read, “Save our Water, Save Our Way of Life – Stand Up and Be Counted! Census 2010.”

That kind of unique messaging will “move the needle those extra percentage points that will pay off in hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Close.

Lawmakers called for Census officials to turn over several documents relating to ad buys, sub-contractor fees, and correspondence, and demanded greater transparency. There was talk of investigation several times throughout the night. And again and again, panelists were asked if they thought it would be more effective to use local media to act as “trusted messengers.”

“Your tepees were the icing on the cake,” said Waters to Close, at the door of the conference room, as panelists filed out for the evening, four hours after the hearing began, at almost midnight.