For General Census Information please see: http://www.ncidc.org/census/census.html Census Monitoring Board Report Analyzes Funding Consequences of Census Undercount The Presidential members of the U.S. Census Monitoring Board released a report last week analyzing the potential effect on the distribution of federal funds of an undercount in the 2000 census. The firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) prepared the report for the Democratic members of the Board. PwC studied eight federal programs representing over 82 percent of federal grant programs (with obligations over $500 million in fiscal year 1998) that rely on census data to determine the allocation of funds. For these programs, the report concludes that 26 states and the District of Columbia would lose an estimated $9.1 billion in funding from 2002-2012 due to a projected undercount in Census 2000. 169 metropolitan areas would lose $11.1 billion over the same period, according to the analysis, with the affected jurisdictions losing an average of $3,391 for each person not counted in the census. PwC said the projected funding losses are conservative estimates because it did not review all population-based federal programs or any state programs that distribute funds to counties and cities based on census data. Gilbert Cassellas, Presidential Co-chair of the Census Monitoring Board, said, "This study confirms that a 2000 undercount would result in federal funds being sent to places where the need is not the greatest." Board member Lorraine Green said at a press conference: "It is in the economic self-interest of every American … to participate in the census." The other Presidential appointees on the Board are former Commerce Under Secretary Everett Ehrlich and California Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante. Dr. Peter Merrill, director of PwC's National Economic Consulting Group, oversaw preparation of the report. PwC estimates that the net national undercount rate for Census 2000 will be 1.75 percent of the population, or nearly 5 million people, a figure that it called "conservative." The net undercount in 1990 was 1.59 percent. To estimate the potential misallocation of funds following the 2000 census, PwC applied the undercount rate for states, counties, and cities for the 1990 census to the latest Census Bureau population projections for 2000. (The methodology is described more fully in the report.) The Bureau measured the 1990 undercount using a 'post enumeration survey' conducted in the summer of 1990. PwC also assumed current funding formulas for the programs studied, and funding levels cited in the Clinton Administration's fiscal year 2000 Current Services Budget. The Census Monitoring Board was created in late 1997 pursuant to a provision of the Census Bureau's funding bill for fiscal year 1998. The Board has eight members: four appointed by President Clinton, two appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives (then Rep. Newt Gingrich), and two appointed by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS). The Board will operate through September 2001. The PwC report, "Effect of Census 2000 Undercount on Federal Funding to States and Local Areas, 2002-2012," is available through the Presidential Board members' Web site, www.cmbp.gov, and the PricewaterhouseCoopers Web site, www.pwcglobal.com. The Congressional Board members, led by Co-chair Kenneth Blackwell, maintain their own Web site at www.cmbc.gov. -- André Cramblit, Operations Director The Northern California Indian Development Council ( http://www.ncidc.org ) NCIDC is a non-profit organization that helps meet the social, educational, and economic development needs of American Indian communities. NCIDC operates a fine art gallery and gift boutique featuring the best of American Indian Artist's and their work, with emphasis placed on the work of the Tribes of N.W. California. (http://www.ncidc.org/gift/gifthome.htm#anchorgift)