Contact: Paulette Nickerson

Human Services Coordinator
(315) 798-5800

EANNACE KICKS OFF CENSUS 2000 IN ONEIDA COUNTY 

Oneida County Executive Ralph J. Eannace Jr. announced today the formation of the Oneida County Census 2000 Complete Count Committee. The Complete Count Committee members are local community leaders and is co-chaired by Annette Foley, Town of Kirkland Supervisor, and Judith Owens-Manley, Research Coordinator, Resource Center for Human Services at Hamilton College. The Oneida County Complete Count Committee is charged with promoting and encouraging everyone in Oneida County to answer and return the Census 2000 questionnaire by Census Day, April 1, 2000.

"We want to ensure everyone in Oneida County is counted," said Ralph J. Eannace Jr., Oneida County Executive, "Local funding and political representation are based on census counts. The importance of having all members in our community fill out and return the Census 2000 Questionnaire can’t be understated." Population and housing counts from the census that are taken nationwide every 10 years are used to reapportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and distribute billions of federal dollars annually to communities.

Community leaders use the census for everything from planning schools and building roads to providing recreational opportunities and managing health care services. The mandate for conducting the census every ten years comes from the United States Constitution. The importance of the census as an instrument of democracy has not diminished since 1790 – when the first census was taken. Census 2000 will be our nation’s 22^nd headcount.